Powerline Mail Delivery, Crows as a Service, Single Sock Store, and Photo To-Do Lists
Ep. 24

Powerline Mail Delivery, Crows as a Service, Single Sock Store, and Photo To-Do Lists

Episode description

Special thanks to Ali for joining us on this episode!

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:46 - Intramurals
00:15:01 - Powerline Mail Delivery
00:26:17 - Crows as a Service
00:33:38 - Single Sock Store
00:44:39 - Photo To-Do Lists
00:58:00 - Outro

Download transcript (.srt)
0:02

- I'm Scott.

0:06

- I'm Russell.

0:06

- And I'm Leo.

0:07

This is Spitball.

0:11

Welcome to Spitball,

0:18

where three hacker heroes and a guest

0:20

empty their heads of startup and tech product ideas

0:22

that we have stuck up in there

0:23

so you can all have them for free.

0:25

Anything that we say is yours to keep.

0:27

And Scott, you brought our guest with us this week, right?

0:29

- I did.

0:30

We have our longtime friend, Ali, with us today.

0:33

Ali is from Maine.

0:35

She's captain of the Trivia Trollops

0:37

and is currently a survivor

0:38

of the cicada apocalypse out in Chicago.

0:40

Welcome, Ali.

0:41

- Hi, glad to be here.

0:44

- Oh, this is gonna be great.

0:46

Ali, like a guest before her,

0:48

has brought so many ideas that we thought this week

0:50

would be fun to do another intramurals round.

0:52

So we're gonna do a warmup run

0:54

with a couple of rapid fire ideas, one each.

0:56

And who wants to go first?

0:59

- I can go first.

1:00

- Do it, hit us.

1:01

- So anyone who has done a long car trip with children

1:06

understands the pain of the arm reach around,

1:10

handing a snack, messing with a tablet.

1:13

I want a car conveyor belt.

1:16

I want a little platform next to my seat

1:19

that I can put the snack on and I can just push it back

1:22

so I don't have to reach my arm around

1:25

and they can take it off.

1:26

And then if they need help with the tablet,

1:28

they can put it on, push it forward.

1:30

There's no grabbing, no danger while you're driving.

1:34

I also drive a minivan.

1:36

So if my kids are in the back seat, I can't reach them.

1:39

- Like in the way back.

1:40

- I need a device that will get snack

1:44

from point A to point B and keep me safe while driving.

1:47

- Snack delivery system.

1:48

- Does it go both ways?

1:49

Like the kids can, you know, sometimes if you're driving,

1:52

you have to get the snack that the kid has.

1:54

They just, it just sounds really good in the back.

1:57

- Oh yeah, it's the mom tax.

1:59

I need a bite.

1:59

- The mom tax, there it is.

2:01

- One gusher please.

2:03

- How about a whole pneumatic tube delivery system?

2:06

Like a bank.

2:08

- You put an iPad through that?

2:09

- So I was thinking like if it's in the middle,

2:12

it's gonna stop kids from getting in and out.

2:14

So I was thinking you could put it like on the ceiling.

2:16

- Whoa, just like a claw that goes back and forth.

2:19

- Or like hooks all along it

2:21

so you can like hang the little Ziploc bag on it

2:23

and it goes back, that's fun.

2:24

- Yeah, like a laundry thing.

2:26

- Yeah.

2:27

- Yeah.

2:28

- Zip lines, you could zip line.

2:31

- Clothesline, yes.

2:32

- I like this idea just 'cause of the instant recognition

2:34

on both Leo and Russell's faces.

2:36

As soon as you said that, like, oh my God, absolutely.

2:39

- Yes.

2:41

- You initially, you guys initially texted me

2:44

right before I got in the car to drive it to Michigan.

2:47

So of course I'm driving and I'm thinking

2:49

and as I'm thinking, I'm reaching behind to get a snack

2:53

and I'm like, oh my God, this sucks.

2:56

- That's the whole point of the show, man.

2:57

Train your brain to look around.

2:58

- That's where the idea came from.

3:00

- See these problems, highlight it.

3:02

- For Scott, your doggy treat delivery, all right?

3:06

- There it is.

3:06

- You got Trooper in the back.

3:08

You know, I'm sure it's easier,

3:10

you can throw it back there and he'll figure it out.

3:12

- If I have treats up front and he knows it,

3:14

he is also up front.

3:16

There is no delivery system needed.

3:18

- But that is a good thought.

3:21

- Unless you trained him to be obedient

3:22

and wait in the seat for the delivery

3:24

and the conveyor belt to bring it to him.

3:27

- That sounds like the same thing with extra steps.

3:30

- Yeah, you could probably do that today

3:32

with a couple metal cables and little chip clips.

3:37

You just, you know, get a couple angled cables,

3:41

zip line that, you know, from the front to the back.

3:45

It only goes one way though, you know.

3:47

- You can get a pulley, you just have a whole loop

3:48

and then you just gotta do this move to it.

3:50

- Just a big magnesium magnet and stick it up there

3:53

and just have it go back and forth.

3:54

- Guys are geniuses, yeah, just a pulley.

3:56

Just a pulley system, you know.

3:59

- Like a chairlift at a ski resort, yeah.

4:02

- I didn't even think of that, yeah.

4:03

- You just got the constant loop going

4:05

and you just hang something like a sushi buffet or something.

4:07

- Yes, light it up and you got yourself a,

4:11

now it doesn't look like a conveyor belt system,

4:13

it looks like a decoration, you know.

4:15

- I really like this idea.

4:17

This is very easy to prototype.

4:20

- Should have saved it for my Spitball.

4:23

- I have to move this to Varsity for the murals.

4:26

- Bring it up to JV.

4:29

- All right, Leo, what do you got?

4:30

- So there are music streaming apps

4:34

and there are audio book streaming apps,

4:36

but standup comedy has been languishing

4:40

without its own place, its own home.

4:41

And I am constantly annoyed that standup comedy albums

4:46

are treated like music, like tracks,

4:49

where it doesn't really keep track like a podcast

4:50

of how far you are through it.

4:52

It doesn't recommend good similar artists in the same way.

4:55

I wish that there was a dedicated,

4:57

either built into Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music,

4:59

or a totally separate service

5:01

that it was just for standup recommendations,

5:03

for keeping track of stuff that works like a podcast app,

5:06

but is better at, I mean,

5:09

there's thousands of comedy albums out there

5:11

and I'm a big fan, but discovery is hard

5:14

and keeping track of what I have and haven't heard.

5:15

If you try to go back to an album

5:17

that you partway listened through,

5:18

it's so hard to figure out where you left off

5:20

because they're just treated like music tracks.

5:22

I want that.

5:23

Come on, Spotify, who's the product manager over there

5:25

who needs a promotion?

5:26

- That's right.

5:27

I'm almost picturing like TikTok for comedy,

5:29

where it's just like, I can just scroll

5:31

and there's another comedian there,

5:33

but it lets you save it off to the side

5:35

or remembers what you had before.

5:37

- I would love, yeah, that'd be great.

5:39

The YouTube algorithm, but for, or the TikTok algorithm,

5:43

but just audio, or maybe it is audio and video too.

5:46

And it's doing a better job of that.

5:48

That is an underserved market

5:50

that I am a fan of and a part of.

5:51

- I actually really like that where it is just audio.

5:55

'Cause like I'm in driving in the car

5:56

and there's TikTok running,

5:58

but like it's just me hitting one button,

6:00

the skip button on something and I don't like it,

6:01

but the algorithm's still there.

6:03

- Thumbs up, thumbs down if you want.

6:05

- Sure.

6:05

- You could sell a little like coin size accessory

6:08

that goes on the steering wheel.

6:09

That's a thumbs up and thumbs down,

6:10

little Bluetooth controller or something.

6:12

- Dude, that's really cool.

6:13

I think that's a million dollar idea right there.

6:17

- Yeah, man, get me like a wifi enabled iPod shuffle,

6:22

but thumbs up and thumbs down.

6:24

That's got constant stream of tracks from comedians.

6:27

I would love that.

6:28

I would eat that up, save for later.

6:30

I really like this person, really like this genre.

6:34

That'd be great.

6:35

- I think that would make more comedians come online.

6:37

I feel like there's a lot of like maybe unknown comedians

6:40

that are local that you're just getting the-

6:42

- Yes, you fall into some niche.

6:44

There's like, oh, this random unknown comedian

6:47

is actually perfect for you.

6:48

That's a great call.

6:49

- You could have like a discovery page

6:51

where it's like smaller people from like local clubs

6:53

in like San Diego or like Austin.

6:56

- 100%.

6:57

- Whoa. - I like it.

6:58

- All right, Russell, you're up, what's up?

6:59

- All right.

7:00

This is true intramural

7:02

'cause I don't know where to go with it.

7:04

(laughing)

7:06

Okay, so interest rates are high, home buying is hard.

7:11

Why not make, and you know what?

7:13

I already trust my company with literally my livelihood

7:17

for medical health benefits.

7:19

Why can't I trust them with my home?

7:22

And so my suggestion is, is create a benefits package

7:27

that lowers my interest rate.

7:30

They own my home and now I can pay a part of my salary.

7:34

Maybe they match it, whatever.

7:36

- Oh, directly into your mortgage.

7:39

- Yeah, so my company owns my home

7:43

and they give some sort of benefit.

7:45

So instead of paying an insane interest,

7:48

it's like, hey, I will work for this company

7:50

for 10, 15 years if I get a 15 year mortgage

7:54

with no interest.

7:56

Like literally I am making so much money

7:59

by trusting my company with my homely livelihood.

8:03

I already trust them with my,

8:04

I mean my health benefits in a way.

8:06

So like why not just take the million dollars

8:09

that's gonna go to a bank,

8:10

ensure that I'm gonna be with this company

8:12

for another 10 years.

8:14

And I mean, hell, I'm already paying my principal.

8:18

Like it's just all around just,

8:21

I feel like everybody wins in this situation.

8:23

You get loyalty with a company.

8:25

- You're corporate overlord.

8:27

- Yeah, I mean.

8:29

- The company owns your very livelihood and can abuse you.

8:33

- You know, in the same way a bank can do that, right?

8:35

What's the worst?

8:36

- I got evicted by my boss.

8:37

- Yeah.

8:38

- But what if you got demoted?

8:41

Would they be like, okay, sorry,

8:42

you gotta move to like the shittier house

8:44

two blocks down now.

8:45

- No, I think that's,

8:46

I think it's part of the package is you pick your home,

8:49

whatever you wanna pick, they just own the home.

8:52

- The boss has the corner office

8:54

and has the lakefront property.

8:55

- Oh man.

8:56

- There's something, if you get demoted, I mean.

8:59

- That is interesting, Russell.

9:01

'Cause like all these companies out here,

9:03

if they're sitting on liquid cash,

9:05

they can set their own interest rates.

9:06

They pay for it up front to the bank

9:09

or whoever the buyer is.

9:10

You're paying 3% or whatever to your company.

9:14

That, I love all of it,

9:16

minus the what happens when I leave that job.

9:19

- So you have to refinance.

9:20

As soon as you leave, you have to refinance

9:21

and go to a bank.

9:22

So you trust a bank anyway, right?

9:24

Or your next job, if this becomes popular,

9:27

takes on that same, like that's their benefit, right?

9:30

So.

9:31

- I like that.

9:32

You have it all pre-set up ahead of time.

9:33

Like if everything crashes,

9:35

then I'm gonna go to Huntington or whatever.

9:37

If I lose my job, I go to Huntington.

9:39

- Your Christmas bonus would be like

9:41

a 1% less interest rate.

9:43

- Hey, I would take that in a second.

9:44

- That would be an amazing bonus.

9:46

That would be incredible.

9:48

I'd be like.

9:49

'Cause like in a way, right?

9:52

It's like the same thing.

9:53

It's money going to a bank instead of my,

9:55

like my boss is paying me to pay a bank.

9:58

Like why not just cut the middleman out?

10:01

- I'm sure we're missing a lot of things on this,

10:03

but I really like this.

10:05

- My boss gives me money and then I give it to a bank.

10:07

Why not cut out the middleman

10:08

and not have me any money?

10:10

I don't like having money.

10:11

- Literally, guys, I was doing this mortgage thing

10:16

in our discord.

10:17

- Sure.

10:17

- Every dollar I borrow,

10:19

I pay 75 cents for every dollar I borrow over 30 years.

10:23

My first 10 years,

10:25

I am paying so much more money up front for interest.

10:29

And like, I literally am just renting my house

10:32

from the bank right now.

10:33

I just like, what the hell is this?

10:35

If I were to refinance,

10:37

I could have just rent from the bank even more.

10:39

There's something inherently evil

10:42

about the way interest rates are

10:45

and the way I want to own.

10:46

And also it's a big problem for the world right now.

10:50

Sorry, this is beyond the rules now.

10:52

So cut this out.

10:53

But like, we got problems.

10:55

- Rise up.

10:56

- Hate the rich.

10:57

- Like give me a flat fee

11:00

or let me own more of my house when I pay my mortgage.

11:03

But I'm like, my company, like they have money.

11:07

Why can't they just buy my house

11:08

and I just get a discounted rate?

11:09

I'll stay with them for 10 years

11:11

if they cut literally what I'm gonna do anyway, right?

11:13

If I'm already gonna stay there,

11:14

like, I don't know, what's it to them?

11:16

So, that's it.

11:18

Somebody make that happen.

11:20

- I really like that.

11:22

- All right, Scott.

11:25

- How are you gonna eat the rich?

11:28

- What's your intramural?

11:30

- I had nowhere near that.

11:34

- I read an article the other day

11:36

of fabric that can block specific UV.

11:40

And my very first thought of that was like,

11:42

let's make SPF shirts, long sleeve shirts,

11:45

where I can put it on and it's the equivalent

11:47

of having SPF 15 sunscreen on or SPF 30 sunscreen on.

11:52

- That's a thing.

11:52

- Is that a thing?

11:54

- Every parent--

11:54

- Isn't that all shirts?

11:55

- Every parent knows this.

11:56

- As a ginger, I can attest that is a thing.

11:59

- Are all shirts not SPF?

12:03

- Yeah, but you just wear like a T-shirt,

12:05

I could get sunburned underneath it.

12:06

- I'm saying you just get, you specify like

12:08

the actual specific amount of how much SPF this is

12:11

and then brand it.

12:12

So, I have a full set.

12:13

I've got my 15, I got my 30, I got my 45 or whatever.

12:16

- This one's the tanning oil shirt.

12:18

- You know--

12:19

- Yeah, exactly, SPF 5.

12:20

- That actually, honestly, Scott,

12:22

I think that would be very successful

12:25

'cause people probably don't connect the dots there.

12:28

- As long as you branded it really obvious and in front

12:31

and then you just target people who don't like to put on

12:34

icky sunscreen or something and then, I don't know.

12:37

- Which is me, I hate the feeling of sunscreen and lotion.

12:40

- There you go, now you can get a great tan

12:42

just by being outside.

12:44

- I have never considered that any item of clothing

12:47

that I wear is not already inherently SPF infinity.

12:50

Like, does any UV light get through any outfits, clothes?

12:54

- That's why I was so excited about this particular article

12:56

is like this fabric, you can set the amount

12:58

based on thread, whatever.

13:01

So I'm like, yeah, let's just--

13:01

- But it's not like translucent.

13:04

- It didn't look translucent.

13:06

I can't speak if you get that shirt wet, but.

13:09

- Yeah, 'cause I've seen like swimming shirts

13:11

and like exercise shirts,

13:13

but just not like a normal fabric shirt.

13:16

- Yeah, I don't wanna--

13:17

- Is that the difference?

13:18

- I've seen like exercise ones where it's like

13:20

prevent all UV or UV proof or whatever.

13:24

I wanna do the opposite.

13:25

- It sounds like I'm hearing you say that this exact thing

13:27

is not, it lets through some

13:30

and that's the innovation.

13:31

- Yes.

13:32

- Before they just didn't let through any.

13:34

- I mean--

13:35

- That's interesting.

13:36

- Yeah, you could do the sun umbrellas,

13:39

you could do parasols, you could do not just clothes,

13:42

you could do like sheets, right?

13:45

Like literally you go to the beach and now you have a tent

13:47

and the tent is literally like a UV lightener, right?

13:52

- Reducer, but not eliminator.

13:55

- So I could like kind of tan.

13:57

- Yes.

13:58

- Instead of putting on sunscreen,

13:59

it's an alternative,

14:01

which you sell that to coral reefs all day.

14:03

- Ali, I think the blocker is,

14:05

you and I think of sunscreen as don't let any through,

14:08

but this is some people's definition

14:10

of only let some through.

14:11

- Which I don't want at all.

14:13

- Yeah, same.

14:14

(laughing)

14:16

- I want no sun.

14:17

- Interesting.

14:19

- Wow, you guys don't tan, huh?

14:21

- Not well.

14:22

- I come in two colors, red and white.

14:25

There's no in between.

14:26

- Very patriotic.

14:27

- Me and Scott have just a hint.

14:30

You know, the olive skin and the--

14:31

- Just a itty bitty.

14:32

(laughing)

14:34

- So for the Jersey Shore, Scott, is what you're saying.

14:37

We're gonna sell all these Jersey Shore.

14:39

- Those are some fun ones.

14:42

Yeah.

14:43

- Should we like end it on like a, I don't know,

14:46

what award do you get in your ear murals?

14:47

- Participation trophy.

14:49

- All right, who?

14:50

Everybody gets a free T-shirt.

14:52

Yeah.

14:53

- Yeah.

14:54

- A free sunscreen T-shirt handed to you by a claw

14:57

in your minivan.

14:57

(laughing)

14:59

- I couldn't pay your bill, yes.

15:01

- All right, Russell, you're up.

15:02

What do you got for us this week?

15:03

- All right.

15:04

- What's your varsity idea?

15:05

- Hmm, you know, it's a little off the wall,

15:08

but you know, sometimes I look at the infrastructure.

15:13

You know, sometimes it's just good to look up in general.

15:16

When you're going for a walk, you know, look up at the sky

15:19

and then you see all these power lines everywhere

15:21

and you're like, this is ugly.

15:25

And you know what's funny about power lines

15:27

is they go to every single home in any community, right?

15:32

And you know what else goes to every home?

15:35

Mailmen, UPS drivers.

15:39

There are people that do stuff every day

15:42

and they go to your house.

15:43

So why not create a system or a device

15:48

that connects to power lines to suck the power

15:53

out of the power lines and deliver your mail every day?

15:56

You just have a mail carrier right in the utility lines,

16:01

house to house.

16:02

I just don't see why we have the infrastructure.

16:06

Let's just add a device to it.

16:08

That's it.

16:09

Simple idea.

16:09

- Wouldn't it blow up?

16:10

- You tell the engineers to not let it blow up.

16:13

All right.

16:14

- Oh, I passed the many.

16:15

- That's the engineer's problem.

16:16

- Requirement number one.

16:17

- The boys down in engineering have that solved.

16:19

Yeah, that's their problem.

16:21

- That's all you gotta do.

16:22

- Okay, I want to back up here.

16:23

Are we talking about like transferring data modularly

16:27

through the power line or a claw that rides the power line

16:32

holding your Amazon package?

16:35

- The second, the latter.

16:37

- We're talking about claw machines tonight.

16:38

- That makes me so happy.

16:39

- You've got a series of baskets that are traveling

16:42

like little locked safes all along the power lines.

16:45

They only unlock when they arrive at the house itself.

16:50

They leach a little bit of ambient current

16:52

off of the line that they're hanging on, which is a thing.

16:56

- Delivers the mail, delivers packages.

16:58

You know, somebody somewhere said,

17:03

"Let's run wires on poles to every home in America."

17:08

And nobody bat an eye.

17:10

Why can't we use those wires for other things?

17:14

- I have a question.

17:16

- We're not taking any.

17:17

(laughs)

17:18

- Several.

17:18

Go ahead, Ali.

17:19

- If the power line is buried, what do I do?

17:22

- I was thinking a little bit about how many of them

17:24

in our neighborhood are currently being undergrounded.

17:27

- You tell your city to put poles back up.

17:30

You tell them they messed up.

17:33

- Do you know how much money I spent

17:34

to bury that power line?

17:36

- You know how it's a great idea to take all

17:38

of our critical infrastructure and dangle it up on poles,

17:41

precarious poles, blowing in the breeze?

17:43

- It eliminates USPS.

17:45

- My boss likes to tell,

17:46

I don't know if it's an old wives tale or what,

17:48

but a story about how the dog used to know

17:50

when the phone was gonna ring before it rang.

17:52

Did I tell you guys about this?

17:53

- No.

17:54

- So, I don't know if it's true or not,

17:56

but the dog would be outside and it would start barking

17:59

and then a few seconds later,

18:00

the landline phone back in the 60s or 70s or 80s would ring.

18:04

And after a while, they realized,

18:06

well, there's a 60 volt current that would go along

18:11

the telephone line wire as it went to the house

18:15

to make the bell ring on the landline phone.

18:17

And they were clipping the dog to the thing

18:20

and the dog running along and over the years

18:23

had worn down the shielding on the cable.

18:26

So it was just getting zapped as the phone was about to ring.

18:30

So you'd hear a ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff,

18:31

and then the phone would ring

18:33

'cause he was getting a little shock.

18:35

I do worry a little bit about the wear and tear

18:38

of a bunch of little baskets going along

18:40

all of our critical infrastructure.

18:42

- Did they name the dog Sparky?

18:47

- I hope so.

18:48

Oh, wear and tear, huh?

18:50

- Yeah.

18:51

- You know, somebody could fix that, right?

18:54

- I'm not here to be a naysayer to your genius.

18:56

- It's a problem for the engineers.

18:58

- That's right, okay.

18:59

You could use the bots to repair the wear.

19:03

- I was actually just thinking that.

19:04

- It's spraying a little bit of sealant or something.

19:06

Yeah, sure.

19:07

- There we go.

19:08

You see, the engineer in the room thought of that

19:09

before everybody else.

19:10

- Some Flex Seal.

19:11

- Flex Seal.

19:13

I actually love the idea of some kind of sloth looking bot

19:17

on wheels, like goes along, gets to the pole

19:19

and like slowly grabs to the other side of the pole

19:22

and then continues on.

19:24

That would just be incredible to see a bunch

19:27

of those running around.

19:28

- That'd be great.

19:29

- But what would you do in a traffic jam?

19:31

- Right.

19:33

Well, we could have like extendable where they go,

19:37

- Oh.

19:37

- You know, over and under and around each other maybe.

19:40

- Okay, now that Scott has said sloth,

19:42

that's what I'm imagining and it would be adorable.

19:45

So can we do this?

19:47

Like, can we make them,

19:48

- Reaching around.

19:49

- Oh, that would be so fun if you gave them

19:50

like little cute faces.

19:53

- The thing is,

19:53

- And they like hold the letters in their mouths.

19:55

- Yeah.

19:56

- Right.

19:57

But these workers 24/7, post people, right?

20:00

They're working nine to five, you know,

20:03

they have to sleep, they have a benefits.

20:06

No, I'm just saying like, you just get rid of,

20:08

you don't have to worry about time.

20:10

Literally mail arrives, when it arrives,

20:13

it could arrive three times a day.

20:15

It can arrive no times in a day.

20:18

You've changed the way logistics as a whole works

20:22

by using already existing infrastructure

20:24

that taxpayers have already paid for.

20:27

Boom, nobody loses.

20:29

- Except the mailman.

20:30

- Except the mailman's pension.

20:32

You know.

20:35

- Russell, the more you talk,

20:36

the more I think you are a corporate overlord.

20:38

- Listen, if we were in the business to keep people working,

20:43

we would never have a lawnmower.

20:45

We'd have scythes.

20:46

We would...

20:47

- You're saying you want the USPS

20:51

to be the largest robotics maintenance contractor.

20:55

- One of the biggest.

20:56

- Building these bots.

20:57

- Right, buses, like if you think about all the jobs in cars

21:01

would be taken away if we just mass produced more buses.

21:03

No, I don't know.

21:04

Maybe I am a corporate overlord.

21:06

All I have to say is,

21:07

I just think there's underutilized something

21:12

with utility poles all over the nation.

21:15

- The engineer in me is crying.

21:17

- They're gonna go away if we just bury them, right?

21:20

To Ali's point, like let's just bury them,

21:22

but why not just sell the access?

21:25

I guess like, how's this?

21:27

Open access to utility poles.

21:30

What if we level that up a little bit?

21:32

So you just like, you charge rent on utility poles.

21:35

I don't know if that's how it works today.

21:37

- I would steal so much power if that was the case.

21:39

- That is a thing.

21:40

So like the AT&Ts and Comcasts of the world

21:43

work with our local contractor,

21:45

at least who owns the pole,

21:47

our local utility company puts it up

21:50

and then basically they pay rent, yeah,

21:53

to put their own cables up on the existing infrastructure.

21:55

- I mean, there we go.

21:57

- Why not USPS?

21:58

Throw it on there as well.

21:59

- You're basically there.

22:00

- That actually could do a dedicated USPS line.

22:02

- Yes, right?

22:03

Let me throw this out there.

22:04

What if Amazon was like, we're gonna do this?

22:08

Like we got billions of dollars,

22:09

we don't know what to do with it.

22:10

Would you pay--

22:11

- Abandoning the drone project.

22:12

- Yes, they're abandoning the drone project

22:14

and now they're like, Amazon premium,

22:17

we need access to your utility pole,

22:21

but you have to pay $100 more a year, let's say.

22:24

Would you pay $100 more a year

22:26

to get your packages delivered?

22:28

- Same day.

22:29

- Well, they would be like replacing paying people.

22:32

They shouldn't charge me more for this.

22:34

I don't care how it gets to my house.

22:36

No, I would pay, I would take $100 less

22:38

if a human delivers it to my door versus the robot.

22:41

You're incentivizing this wrong.

22:43

I wanna, I mean, it would be kind of fun

22:44

to watch your robot go along the lines.

22:46

Maybe I'd pay a hundred bucks for one year

22:48

to watch your little bots do their thing.

22:49

That would be kind of fun.

22:50

- Especially if it was sloth shaped.

22:52

- That's true.

22:53

The sloth packs.

22:54

- That's the most important part.

22:55

- You talked me into it.

22:56

- I guess you're right.

22:58

I guess the Amazon is saving money, maybe in a way.

23:01

So why would you pay more

23:02

for the way that packages get delivered?

23:03

Unless it was faster, right?

23:05

- They talk about how the last mile

23:07

is the hardest part in logistics.

23:08

So maybe this is it.

23:10

- There it is.

23:11

There it is, Leo.

23:12

We'll call it, that's the company name.

23:14

The Last Mile.

23:15

- Makes it sound like the last surviving mile.

23:17

Like you're gonna burn it all down.

23:19

- The Last Mile High Club.

23:21

(laughing)

23:22

- This dystopian image of a Amazon truck

23:25

pulling up to a power line and just like putting sloths.

23:28

- Unloading all the sloths.

23:29

- All these sloths onto it.

23:30

All of them full of packages and they all scurry away.

23:34

- Oh, but there could be like a subscription fee

23:36

and you could change the animal.

23:38

- Ah, there you go.

23:39

- Like you could choose who's gonna deliver your packages.

23:41

- Who's it gonna be today, buddies?

23:43

Oh, it's a giraffe.

23:44

Oh, he's got his little neck around the power line.

23:47

- He left a paw print.

23:48

- Oh, it's a squirrel.

23:49

No, wait, that's just a real squirrel.

23:52

- It's Blue from Blue's Clues.

23:53

It's your favorite Paw Patrol guy.

23:55

Whoa.

23:56

- Oh no.

23:57

What if you ordered food

23:58

and the squirrels actually got your food?

24:00

- That's some door dash.

24:01

- There you go.

24:03

- All the crows and seagulls and shit

24:05

are gonna learn immediately about this.

24:06

- Ali, that's brilliant.

24:08

- Scott, you nailed it, dude.

24:10

Imagine just like all the old burritos sitting at Chipotle

24:14

waiting to be picked up by door dash.

24:17

You just, you literally throw it in the power lines

24:20

and the sloth picks it up and gets you there.

24:22

- So could we make like a sushi train,

24:24

but all the way from the sushi restaurant to my house?

24:27

- The same company that's doing the minivan retrofit

24:30

for the conveyor belt system.

24:31

- The squirrels have never been happier.

24:34

- Would you guys travel?

24:35

What if it was a people mover?

24:38

What if you rode it like a zip line?

24:40

- I don't think you know what a people mover is.

24:42

(laughing)

24:44

- Zip line.

24:45

- Yeah, I would zip line to Chipotle.

24:47

- You know, like public transportation

24:50

by utility pole, all right?

24:52

Literally clip in, it's got the power

24:55

and they just move you around.

24:57

- It would make me feel like Spider-Man.

24:59

- I think it would be fun.

25:01

I keep flip-flopping between,

25:02

this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

25:04

This could work, I actually like this.

25:07

Put a disclaimer in this episode,

25:08

must take 10 milligram edible before listening.

25:11

- Warning listener, do not try zip lining

25:13

from power lines in backyard.

25:15

(laughing)

25:16

- This is like, you have to build

25:18

an entire city infrastructure on it, right?

25:21

Like imagine no roads.

25:23

You replace all roads with giant ass utility poles

25:27

and you zip line from point A to point B.

25:30

Just the entire infrastructure.

25:32

Gondolas.

25:34

- At this point, it almost feels like

25:36

you're reverse engineering it though.

25:38

Like you wanna build a whole city

25:40

with these poles that do all these things

25:42

and then, oh yeah, we'll just add the power into that too.

25:45

- Afterthought.

25:46

- Yeah, and fuck solar

25:47

'cause that would ruin the whole idea.

25:48

You know, if everybody had solar on their roofs,

25:51

that would destroy the whole infrastructure thing.

25:54

But, okay, here's another way to spin it.

25:57

Power companies need to figure out

25:58

what to do with these utility poles

26:00

and now power isn't on it anymore.

26:02

- Why not?

26:03

At that point, yeah, you know what?

26:05

Spitballers, this is gonna need your help.

26:08

- This is gold.

26:08

Can't believe you're giving this away for free, man.

26:11

(laughing)

26:14

- Scotty B, what's your idea this week?

26:23

- It's not the level of an hinge as I need to be, I think,

26:26

but we're gonna try to get up there.

26:28

Okay, fell down a YouTube rabbit hole last night

26:31

and you see those videos of people that train crows

26:35

to be like, "Pick up cigarette butts,"

26:37

or "Bring me coins," and stuff.

26:39

Why can't we automate this entire process?

26:42

Why can't we make a crow training vending machine thing

26:47

that we just franchise all over

26:49

and we just put it in a park and it is fully autonomous

26:53

in that it goes through all the different stages

26:55

to train crows to bring X to it.

26:59

And then we just place them all over the country.

27:02

I don't care if they're bringing you dollar bills

27:04

or it's for garbage cleanup or something.

27:06

It's like, this YouTube was explaining,

27:08

it's four stages to train a crow.

27:10

First you need to make it really obvious for them

27:12

and you have to lay a bunch of coins

27:14

and they accidentally knock one in

27:15

and a sunflower seed comes out.

27:17

Then the next stage, they make it a little bit harder.

27:19

You have to pick up the coin and drop it in.

27:21

And then the third stage, the coin is on the ground

27:24

and by the fourth stage, they are just flying out.

27:26

All you need to do is keep this thing fully stocked

27:29

with freaking bird seed and then empty it

27:32

every once in a while like a vending machine.

27:34

- The first ever, that's the entire idea.

27:38

- A new business out there, it's called Birds as a Service.

27:41

You got SAS, you got Software as a Service,

27:47

you got platforms, now it's just getting Birds as a Service.

27:52

This is the funniest thing I've ever heard.

27:54

- I thought the birds worked for the bourgeoisie.

27:57

(laughing)

27:59

- I thought there was an experiment involving crows

28:02

and trash collection where they were doing this

28:05

and they were teaching them to collect food and stuff,

28:08

but then the crows were--

28:10

- Got addicted to the cigarette butts.

28:11

- Creating new litter in order to, they were bringing,

28:15

they were like, oh, I can just go grab trash

28:18

and throw it all over and then bring some of it back

28:20

and then that also gets me the reward.

28:22

- It's like training an AI.

28:24

- Yeah, so there's some unintended consequences

28:27

for teaching birds, find as much trash as you possibly can

28:30

and bring it to--

28:31

- They're probably just gonna end up robbing people

28:33

if you train them to get shiny objects.

28:35

- They'll be taking it from your trash machine

28:37

to the neighbor's and back and forth, back and forth.

28:40

- What would you want specifically the birds

28:43

to be putting in this bird training vending machine?

28:47

- The optimist or nice person would be like,

28:50

again, cigarette butts or just pieces of litter

28:52

or something.

28:54

The more Slytherin person is like shiny objects,

28:58

coins, dollar bills, fives are up.

29:01

- Dude, could we get these birds

29:03

to like deliver surveys to people?

29:06

(laughing)

29:07

- On your power lines.

29:09

- Yeah, deliver DoorDash.

29:10

- I'm just, I'm thinking the corporate entity out there

29:13

is like, man, how do we reach our customers?

29:16

Let's hire crows as a service

29:19

to deliver paper surveys to people

29:23

and pick them up like after they fill out the survey,

29:26

the crow drops the $2 in its mouth

29:30

and then takes the survey

29:32

and delivers it to the vending machine.

29:34

- That might add like 19 more steps

29:37

to my four step box that I'm trying to make, but.

29:41

- The engineers will figure,

29:44

I mean the botanists or whatever the.

29:46

- We just lost all our engineers as subscribers on here.

29:50

- Sorry, that was not the engineers.

29:53

It's more of the, yeah, the vets or the vet techs out there.

29:56

- For real though, I feel like this would not be

29:58

complex hardware.

30:00

Once you have one working one,

30:01

you just duplicate it and put them all over

30:04

and they just work on power and bird seed and that's it.

30:08

- Dude, adopt a highway campaigns, right?

30:11

- Yeah.

30:12

- Like all over you get, right?

30:14

We just literally.

30:15

- Beach cleanup.

30:15

- We get prisoners to do that work.

30:18

I mean, let's get some. - Why not birds?

30:19

- Why not crows?

30:20

You just.

30:21

- Alfred Hitchcock would be so proud.

30:22

- The crow hive, right?

30:24

And they just go out and they collect all the trash

30:26

on the sidewalk.

30:27

You can bring beehives to like commercial farmers.

30:30

They hire beekeepers to travel and bring entire beehives

30:35

to pollinate farms.

30:38

Why can't we do this for trash cleanup and robbery?

30:41

- Like bring the crows.

30:43

Yeah, I see what you're saying.

30:44

- Yeah, in a truck.

30:45

- I think a big difference is bees instinctively

30:48

pollinate flowers.

30:49

There's no training of crows involved

30:51

or training of bees.

30:52

- How many generations of natural selection

30:54

would it take before crows just have an instinct

30:57

where they have to clean up trash all the time?

31:00

- So we're breeding a slave?

31:03

Race of birds?

31:04

- Oh yeah, there's an ethical problem there.

31:05

You exist to serve butter, right?

31:07

- Carrier pigeons, they did that.

31:10

What happened to the carrier pigeon?

31:12

You know, it's just an alternative to carrier pigeon.

31:15

- Birds are smart.

31:16

- Yeah.

31:17

- What happened to the carrier pigeon?

31:18

- I mean, let's just make it.

31:19

- Technology happened.

31:20

- I guess that's true.

31:21

It is whimsical.

31:22

It would be fun to send love notes

31:24

via carrier pigeon or something.

31:25

- Power line.

31:26

If it's cheaper than a stamp, all right.

31:32

- I have a vision for what this box would look like.

31:34

- How many crows would you need?

31:36

- I wish I knew more about it.

31:38

It doesn't matter.

31:39

You just put it out there and they will figure it out.

31:40

You could get a hundred crows,

31:42

you can get one crow and it'll just keep going.

31:45

Maybe it'll train other crows.

31:46

- Governments would pay for this.

31:47

I don't know.

31:48

I think that governments would pay for this

31:49

if you could actually figure it out.

31:51

- It's like the aerial version

31:54

of like the Silicon Valley companies

31:55

that hire the fields of goats

31:57

that they don't wanna pay for mowing their lawns.

32:00

So they just pay for goats instead.

32:01

You're just not paying for a beach cleaner truck,

32:05

a Zamboni that goes and cleans up the beach.

32:07

- Oh, it's real.

32:09

- Some of the already exist.

32:11

- The crow box.com.

32:13

I'll put the link.

32:14

- Oh, congratulations to the crow box.com

32:16

for scooping us before we even published.

32:19

- Okay, but do they sell to like theme parks?

32:21

- Okay, this is sick actually.

32:23

- What if you did a different model, Scott?

32:24

You train crows for every theme park in the country

32:29

and now their theme parks are always clean

32:32

and you create crow training as a service.

32:34

You just--

32:35

- Russell, yes.

32:36

Also, this is open source.

32:38

- Yeah.

32:39

Wait, what?

32:40

Crow box is open source?

32:42

Like crow training?

32:44

- The dude did a TED talk about it.

32:47

I just looked it up too.

32:49

- God damn it.

32:50

- Sorry, man.

32:51

Someone beat you to it.

32:52

- It's open source.

32:52

- This is fun.

32:53

- It's open source.

32:54

That means that like anybody can do this.

32:56

Like they've given away the training manual

32:59

and now every theme park in the nation

33:01

could have crows on demand.

33:03

- Every beach?

33:04

- This is actually way cooler than what I was picturing.

33:06

- It's like the cats at Disney.

33:08

- There's cats at Disney?

33:09

- Oh, you haven't heard about the Disney cats?

33:11

- No.

33:12

- Yeah, the cats.

33:13

Yeah, they got a bunch of cats to keep the mice away.

33:15

- They like house and feed them.

33:16

- Really cool.

33:17

- I guess that makes sense.

33:19

- And at night they all come out.

33:20

- Whoa.

33:21

- Oh my God, I gotta watch this TED talk.

33:25

All right, Leo, what's your Varsity idea for this week?

33:30

- I've got a really simple one.

33:31

All you need is some space, a big warehouse.

33:34

You ready for this?

33:35

It's another simple one that can be boiled down

33:36

to just a couple of words.

33:37

Store for single socks, single shoes, single boots.

33:42

If someone comes to your store,

33:43

you just have every make, model, whatever,

33:45

of shoe, boot, sock that you have.

33:47

And you on the inside buy a regular pair

33:52

of New Balance, whatever.

33:53

You buy a pair of whatever socks

33:54

and you ship just one of them

33:56

because I'm sick of losing just one of socks,

34:00

kid shoes, sandals, whatever.

34:02

And the washer dryer eats them up, right?

34:05

Wherever the heck they end up going.

34:07

I have many one single socks.

34:10

I don't know where the heck they go.

34:11

I think that they're just in my washing machine

34:14

in the unreachable spots or something.

34:16

I don't know.

34:17

But I would go to a store and pay 60% of the cost

34:21

for 50% of the product and just get one back.

34:24

- Leo, I love this.

34:26

- All you have to do is buy a pair of two socks

34:30

and then you sell it and you make 10% profit, right?

34:32

On each sale.

34:34

- I have a basket of single socks.

34:36

- Right.

34:37

- Next to my basket of match socks.

34:40

And I keep saying,

34:41

"Oh, I'll find the matching sock eventually."

34:43

I never do.

34:43

- And I'm up to like a dozen or more single ones

34:47

and I have never seen them.

34:49

And I need to part with them.

34:50

But would you go to a store and name what kind they are?

34:54

Some of my socks are nice.

34:56

- So I think you said like mail it off.

34:58

This could be like a set, like,

35:00

"Okay, here's my sock, match it and mail it back to me."

35:03

Like an Amazon thing.

35:04

- Or an exchange.

35:04

Maybe you mail it in and that goes to someone else's house

35:07

as their complete set.

35:09

And then you in return have a credit

35:10

that you can spend when you need to.

35:13

- So similar but different.

35:14

I saw this YouTube video of amputees.

35:18

And what they do is they find people with the opposite leg,

35:23

but the same shoe size and they exchange shoes.

35:27

So they're like,

35:28

I don't know if it's an online like chat or like meetup,

35:31

but it's something where like you go and you find,

35:34

"Hey, I've got a right leg.

35:35

You've got a left leg size 10.

35:37

Let's just, you buy a pair of shoes,

35:38

I buy a pair of shoes and we'll trade shoes."

35:41

- Unreal.

35:42

- It's so great.

35:43

How many amputees out there wish that they could go

35:45

to my cool new website that I just registered

35:48

and shop for every kind of shoe.

35:50

And we just buy the pair of shoes on the backend

35:52

and ship them the one, charge them, you know,

35:55

60, 70% of the cost.

35:56

And then we have the other one on hand

35:58

for when someone else comes along.

35:59

And then over time we accrue more and more

36:01

and more and more single ones

36:02

'cause no one's buying the other one.

36:05

Yeah, maybe donate it to Goodwill.

36:06

I don't know what you do with it.

36:08

- Leo, just picture in a dedicated app

36:10

that you have for this where you scan your socks

36:12

and it just pulls up the match on your website

36:14

and just all ready to go in your cart and you ship it out.

36:17

- What you could also do is like,

36:18

if I mail you a single sock,

36:22

you could mail me back a fresh new pair of like matched socks

36:26

and then you could just hold the single sock

36:28

until someone sends you the matching one.

36:30

And it would also cut down on textile waste,

36:33

which is a huge problem.

36:34

- Yeah, you gotta filter out the ones

36:35

that are obviously like too worn.

36:37

I know that Goodwill has a big problem with that

36:39

and Salvation Army, they'll get a lot of donations

36:41

for garbage that really is past its usability.

36:44

But if you're able to take in a stream of you and I's pile

36:49

of socks that we cannot find matches for anymore,

36:53

everyone who donates into that bucket gets a few sock bucks

36:58

that they could spend on the completed matches

37:00

that we're unable to assemble.

37:02

That could scale.

37:03

That would be tedious for the poor wage slaves

37:06

who have to match socks all day, every day, forever.

37:10

(laughing)

37:11

That is truly doubtful.

37:13

- Okay, okay, I'm gonna spin this a little to say like,

37:16

all right, you lose one sock, you send that sock in,

37:20

they destroy it and recycle it, upcycle it

37:23

to make two socks, right?

37:25

Or, you know, instead of using it as raw material,

37:30

it could duplicate itself, turn one into two, right?

37:34

'Cause I feel like--

37:35

- Turn it back to yarn, yeah.

37:36

- Yeah, or, you know, I have a bunch of one socks,

37:40

I would love to recycle that sock 'cause, hell,

37:43

nobody's gonna find the other one maybe.

37:45

Give me a pair back and now there's some sort of,

37:50

I don't know, money logistics thing

37:52

that solves for that, right?

37:55

- Hmm, I think you just discovered or pitched recycling.

37:59

(laughing)

38:00

- It's kind of like the Tom Shue's model for one sock.

38:05

You donate one sock, you get a pair back, right?

38:10

- I don't think your math works there.

38:13

For every one sock you give us, we'll give you two back.

38:17

It's a great business.

38:18

- Yeah, I just, no, it's true.

38:20

I just, you know what, I have a hard time figuring out,

38:22

like, if I were to give this one sock

38:25

that I know I only have one sock, maybe they duplicate it.

38:29

Maybe they look at my sock and they're like,

38:31

you know what, I bet I could copy this sock.

38:34

Like, literally, like, because I don't think it'd be

38:37

that hard to create another sock that looks very similar

38:40

or a shoe or something, I don't know.

38:43

There might be something there to, like, do that.

38:45

- Instead of writing Nike on it, you write Nacky

38:47

and then you're suddenly like a Chinese, you know,

38:51

copyright infringing knockoff dealer.

38:53

That's awesome.

38:54

- It's tailoring, right?

38:57

It's not trying to clone anything.

39:00

- We've tailored you another identical sock

39:03

that says New Balance on it.

39:04

- Yeah, no, I don't think that's illegal, right?

39:07

- Ah!

39:08

- You could even just start your own sock company

39:12

where the whole motto is like,

39:13

hey, all of our socks look the same.

39:15

So when you lose the pair,

39:18

like, we'll just send you another one.

39:20

- What a concept.

39:21

It's so simple, I love it.

39:23

Why is that not a thing?

39:25

- Yeah, I've been very slowly trying to transition

39:27

my collection from cheap 24-pack awful socks

39:31

to, like, nice wool ones, and it's been great,

39:34

but they are all different and it sucks

39:36

that that's the downside to it.

39:38

'Cause I lived that life, I would just have, you know,

39:40

50 pairs of identical white cheap Hanes socks

39:43

and it was fine, like, it was not great or not terrible,

39:46

but it is a real upgrade to get nice socks.

39:48

I would highly recommend it.

39:49

I've reached that point in my life

39:51

where I'm excited to get socks as a gift

39:52

and I've just come to accept that about myself now.

39:54

- Welcome to your 30s.

39:55

- It's like true middle age.

39:56

- It really is.

39:57

- Socks and your Christmas stocking

39:59

is now, like, the best thing ever,

40:01

rather than the worst.

40:02

- Feels like a personal attack, Leo.

40:03

I go to Costco and I buy the Puma, like,

40:06

80 pairs of the low-cut ankle socks.

40:10

- And they're all the same

40:11

and you don't have this problem and I'm jealous.

40:13

- Yeah, that's because I've bought so many packs of them,

40:15

like, literally, I can't even shut the drawer on my socks.

40:18

I have to make sure there are enough dirty socks

40:22

so that I can close my clean drawer sock.

40:24

But, you know, I don't know if this is

40:26

too much of a curveball here,

40:27

but I feel like there's a market for,

40:31

like, a really, like, that missing sock.

40:34

And there are some cases where you're like,

40:35

oh man, I love this pair of socks,

40:37

or I have, like, shirts that I really like

40:40

that are way past, like, they're overworn,

40:43

they've lost their color, they're worn out.

40:46

If I could send my shirt to a company

40:49

because I have a lot of sentimental value or whatever,

40:52

it could recreate it or make a like-new version of that.

40:57

That would be really cool.

40:58

'Cause, like, if it is like a cheapo sock,

41:00

like, it does make sense, like, you know,

41:02

just throw it out and buy, like, a pack of 80 again.

41:05

But if it's a really nice sock or shirt

41:07

or sentimental or pants or whatever,

41:10

like, it's a mix of, like,

41:12

like, I have this dress shirt right here that I'm,

41:14

it's definitely past its time of use.

41:18

And I would just love an exact same shirt.

41:20

Just get me the same one.

41:22

- Renewal service, refurbishment.

41:24

- Low subscription.

41:25

Yeah, or, like, get me a brand new one for all I care.

41:28

Like, if you can't fix it or restore it or refurbish it,

41:32

just, like, I will pay 80,

41:34

I will pay more than I paid for the original shirt

41:37

to get the same exact shirt

41:39

'cause I don't have to think about it.

41:40

I don't know if you guys have that,

41:41

I hate buying clothes,

41:42

so that's probably a little bit of a curveball.

41:44

So just, yeah. - Me too.

41:46

- If I find a shirt that I like,

41:47

I just, get me 100 versions of that shirt,

41:50

but I don't wanna store it all in my house,

41:51

so, like, can you just keep it for 100 years?

41:55

And I'll buy it when I need it or something?

41:58

- Well, I feel like you could have,

41:59

like I said, a subscription service.

42:01

So be like, I'm gonna subscribe to this shirt.

42:03

So every, like, three years,

42:05

they'll just send you the same shirt.

42:08

- Oh. - Oh.

42:08

- And then that way you'll just keep, like--

42:10

- That's interesting. - Rehabbing,

42:11

like, refreshing the shirt that you really like.

42:14

- Yeah, then you never have to worry about your sock,

42:16

missing sock, you just get new ones.

42:18

- And you don't have to go shopping

42:19

'cause you have something you like.

42:21

You can go on a website and be like,

42:22

I'm gonna subscribe to that shirt,

42:24

and then they'll just send it to you every couple years.

42:27

- And you look the same in every family photo

42:29

from the '90s until now. - I try that.

42:31

Change the color.

42:32

You know, every other year, you can mix it up,

42:35

but it still fits the same, yeah.

42:37

- I just wanna give Leo a warehouse and see what happens.

42:40

- Just use my garage.

42:42

- I'm gonna end up with a lot of single socks

42:44

that I have no matches for.

42:45

- I'm just drowning in a sea of socks.

42:47

- I swear I saw one that looked just like this

42:50

somewhere in this warehouse.

42:52

- Just be dreaming in socks.

42:53

- I think there are a lot of people

42:54

that would just buy one sock, you know what I'm saying?

42:57

- I know the brands and styles

42:59

of the ones I have singles of.

43:00

I know it's a lot to ask of like,

43:03

here, just find me matches,

43:04

but if I was able to go to a place and say,

43:06

I need one of these blue darn tough socks,

43:08

I need one of these whatever hiking socks,

43:11

I would pay the discount.

43:13

I don't want to buy another pair

43:15

because then I have three, not one.

43:17

- Yes. - Yeah, no?

43:18

Or I have a pair of Keens where my dog chewed on one of them

43:22

and the buckle thing is all torn up and stuff.

43:24

I would replace just one of them if I could.

43:26

I guess if they had a refurbishment, I could do that.

43:29

But yeah, sometimes things are damaged beyond repair

43:32

for just one of two things.

43:34

Your mittens, I went skiing years ago

43:36

and I tore up one of my gloves

43:39

holding onto the tow rope too long

43:40

and the other one's fine still,

43:42

but I guess I'm just gonna throw away both of them

43:44

because one of them's all screwed up.

43:46

I would buy a single glove from that company.

43:47

- What if, Leo, instead of trying to replace the glove,

43:50

you sent, like, Ally has a basket of one socks, right?

43:54

What if you sent the whole basket of gloves, socks,

43:58

whatever, and they, I guess this is recycling again,

44:01

but they turned it into something that you wanted, right?

44:05

So they took your stuff, they took your materials

44:08

and turned it into a blanket or, yeah.

44:11

- I was gonna say, the company

44:13

that does the T-shirt blankets.

44:15

- Sock blanket. (laughs)

44:17

This is my old sweaty socks.

44:18

Isn't it great?

44:19

Snuggle up.

44:20

- Sure, there's a very specific audience

44:22

on the internet for that, so.

44:24

- Yeah, right now. (laughs)

44:26

- The same people who buy Gamer Girl bath water, I think.

44:28

- That's what I was going for earlier

44:29

with the one sock thing.

44:31

Like, people would just buy the sock

44:32

as long as you didn't clean it, you know?

44:34

(laughs)

44:35

- Oh no, they don't want it clean.

44:37

- Yeah, I was gonna say.

44:38

- Not at all, right, yeah.

44:41

- All right, Ally, what have you brought for us this week?

44:46

- So I am a very ADHD person

44:50

and I live by the to-do list.

44:53

But as an ADHD person,

44:54

I also have the object permanence of an infant.

44:58

If I don't see it, it doesn't exist.

45:00

Like, out of sight, out of mind is very real.

45:03

I want a visual to-do list

45:07

where I can take a picture of the chore I need to do.

45:12

The dirty dishes in the sink,

45:14

the laundry basket of clothes,

45:16

the bag I need to go to Old Navy and return.

45:19

And I want, maybe we've got all these AI advancements,

45:22

it can make me a to-do list,

45:24

but I want a to-do list app

45:27

where I can take a picture of the chore I need to do

45:30

and then it'll make me a to-do list

45:31

and I'll have all its little pictures of the things

45:33

so I can look at it and be like,

45:34

oh yeah, I need to walk back to the kitchen

45:36

and do my dishes.

45:38

- Ooh.

45:38

- You can swipe right and swipe left

45:39

on the pictures of the things I need to do.

45:42

That's for tomorrow, that's for tomorrow.

45:44

Oh no, I'll do that one now.

45:45

- Well, the other idea I had,

45:47

kind of like thinking of it, is I would love it

45:49

if then I could put like a timer on the to-do item

45:52

and then it would buzz me, be like,

45:54

hey, this is a chore you need to do today.

45:56

Buzz me like 8.30, like hey,

45:58

you're gonna get ready for bed, go do your dishes.

46:00

- This is what your dishes look like, Ali.

46:02

- Scott, is there some kind of physical product

46:04

that you could recommend that--

46:07

- Ali, I love this so much.

46:08

I have struggled with ADD the entire life.

46:11

I just got this in the mail yesterday.

46:13

This is a board I have been designing

46:16

that is literally, I put, so describing this out loud,

46:20

it's just a rectangular board

46:22

with different spots on it to put tasks,

46:25

things I need to do daily, weekly, whatever.

46:28

I have LEDs on one side that'll light up

46:31

when it is time to do that task.

46:33

It is Sunday night, you need to take out the trash

46:36

and this LED will light up on it.

46:38

When it is completed, I hit the button

46:40

to be like it is done and the LED turns off and goes on.

46:44

And I wanna combine this with what you're saying,

46:46

which is just like I can take a picture of something of,

46:49

that's just the easiest way.

46:51

Oh my God, there's something I need to do later.

46:52

I take a quick snap of it

46:54

and then it's already gone from my mind.

46:55

I move down to the next thing.

46:56

Combine it with something that literally shines in my face

46:59

to be like you need to do this at this time now.

47:03

- Yes, that is exactly what I need.

47:05

- I love that so much.

47:07

So, okay, you have, Scott,

47:10

you have the Ring cameras in your home, right?

47:13

Could you use it to make the list

47:16

so like you could see how dirty your dishes are

47:19

and it sends you a picture of your dishes

47:21

or your garbage can?

47:23

Like this is, you know, like the state of your chore.

47:26

- That's nuts.

47:28

- The litter box has passed the threshold of dirty

47:31

and now it's lit up.

47:32

- I'm gonna have to put money in the AI swear jar.

47:34

We're not supposed to talk about AI here,

47:36

but like, yes, Russell, you could,

47:39

with everything that's been going on nowadays,

47:41

like how hard could it be to train an AI to be like,

47:44

tell me what's in this picture.

47:45

Do you see a full garbage can or an empty garbage can?

47:49

Throw that with some if this, then that,

47:51

and be like, hey, it's time to take out the garbage

47:53

or the dishes are piling up in the sink.

47:56

It's time to do this.

47:57

- Hey, you need to go replace the toilet paper

47:59

in the bathroom before you get in there

48:01

and realize you need to replace the toilet paper

48:03

in the bathroom.

48:04

'Cause I don't remember to do that when I'm done.

48:06

I'm like, that is a problem for a future Ali.

48:10

- Thousands of hours of toilet videos.

48:12

- She said a hundred of these little automations in there.

48:14

- The AI has to sift through those poor AI models.

48:19

- If there's ever an AI uprising, they're gonna be pissed.

48:23

- Literally pissed with water.

48:25

No, anyways, no, but that's a great example.

48:28

- Have you ever just taken a picture of anything

48:30

and uploaded it to chat GPT and then like,

48:33

describe this to me and how much detail it'll go into

48:36

of everything that's in that picture?

48:38

- I see a Labrador slash Husky breed

48:41

that is sitting on next to a fireplace

48:44

that is this color and the blah, blah, blah.

48:45

It just goes into so much detail.

48:47

It absolutely could tell if a trash can is full

48:50

or if there's dishes in the sink or something

48:52

or if the toilet paper needs to be refilled.

48:53

- Yeah, exactly.

48:54

- Going back to the to-do list,

48:56

that would be so easy to like take a picture of something.

48:59

And then if you want to have the picture to-do list,

49:02

that's great, but you could have an AI program

49:04

that would convert it to a text to-do list.

49:07

- Yes, an actual task.

49:08

- I love checking boxes and crossing things off

49:11

on my to-do list.

49:12

It makes me feel like making my to-do list,

49:14

I write make to-do list and I cross it off at the bottom

49:17

'cause it makes me feel productive.

49:19

- That's cool. - Totally.

49:19

- I've bounced off of task list apps before.

49:22

And I think partly because of the friction

49:24

of getting stuff into them.

49:25

I don't want to like stop what I'm doing

49:27

and remember to get it in there.

49:28

So if it was a quick, you know,

49:30

take a picture of the thing and you're done as the input,

49:32

that rules, like it'll figure out

49:34

what you're trying to say actually.

49:35

- Yes, it could even ask like the one confirmation.

49:38

You take the picture and one confirmation pop up.

49:40

Did you mean to do a task to do the dishes or something?

49:42

You don't have to type anything.

49:43

You just hit yes on there and move on.

49:46

- Are you listening to do list or somebody?

49:48

- I could take a picture of my kitchen and be like,

49:50

did you mean to do dishes?

49:52

Check yes.

49:53

Did you mean to wipe off counter?

49:54

Yes, like.

49:55

- Rapid fire, the seven different suggestions.

49:58

Yes, no, no, yes, no.

49:59

- The ability to just snap a picture.

50:02

Oh, Ali, that is so good.

50:03

- There's something there for sure.

50:04

- I think the, like, so you know,

50:06

when you see your completed checklist,

50:08

you're like super sad.

50:09

Imagine just a photo gallery of all your chores

50:12

that you completed this week.

50:14

How sad is that?

50:15

- It's like a green checkbox on all of them.

50:17

- I love seeing the TikToks of like come clean with me

50:20

and they do the before and after

50:23

or like the time lapse of the cleaning.

50:25

I will never do that.

50:27

But if I had an app where it was like,

50:29

take a picture of the chore and then when it's done,

50:31

I can take another picture.

50:32

And there was like a little animation

50:35

that made me feel happy.

50:36

Like, give me the dopamine, please.

50:38

- Here's your year in review.

50:39

You've cleaned 6,000 plates this year.

50:42

- Your week in review of your chores.

50:44

But I mean, like, imagine,

50:45

I think there's something actually incredibly psychological

50:49

about training yourself to love doing chores

50:53

by like getting multiple dopamine hits from one chore.

50:57

Like, I think there's like a pro,

50:59

like a literal mental programming

51:01

that you can do, this app turns you into a chore machine.

51:06

And now you're like, yeah, addicted to chores.

51:09

I don't know.

51:10

- You could make it at a game,

51:13

compete with your friends

51:15

who has completed their dishes first tonight.

51:18

Like, I challenge Scott, like,

51:21

hey, who's gonna remember to take the trash out first?

51:24

- Photo proof required.

51:25

- Or you have a particularly like terrible chore

51:28

and you're like, look at this dish pile.

51:31

Like, you're just social.

51:33

- The final boss.

51:35

- Yeah, like taking the embarrassment

51:38

out of dirty homes or whatever.

51:40

You're like, my mess today, my mess tomorrow.

51:44

And it's like dirty clean, right?

51:46

Like something about the authentic elements

51:49

of social media, you post about it, right?

51:52

I don't know.

51:53

- Well, if we wanna make this like more addictive,

51:56

you add the social media component

51:58

and you say like, oh my God,

51:59

add me on like chorely.com.

52:02

And then like your friends can comment like,

52:04

you go girl, like vacuum that floor.

52:08

- Whoa, what if, do you guys have like honey do lists?

52:12

Are you, you know what I mean?

52:13

Like, okay.

52:14

- My husband works at a hardware store.

52:16

My honey do list is very long.

52:18

- So like wives, let's say,

52:20

will gamify their husbands into competitions.

52:25

- Yes.

52:27

- This one's worth 12 points.

52:30

- This might be something.

52:31

- This might need a whole nother spit ball here.

52:33

Husbands are completely oblivious.

52:34

They have no idea.

52:36

- Yes.

52:36

- Well, it's like how, you know,

52:38

peer pressure as an adult is watching

52:40

your neighbor mow their lawn.

52:42

Be like, oh, my neighbor vacuumed today.

52:44

I guess I should vacuum too.

52:46

- Guys, I think that like competitive honey do lists would,

52:50

I think just, there might be a destruction of society,

52:54

the fabric of society.

52:58

- No, it would be so efficient.

52:59

- Wives sitting on the couch,

53:01

just manipulating their husbands

53:02

into being meatheads against each other.

53:04

That's great.

53:05

- I think the momentum of it existing

53:08

would just be like all of it.

53:10

Like it wouldn't even be wives competing

53:11

against each other at some point.

53:12

It would just turn into men competing against each other

53:15

all of a sudden because wives started it

53:18

and then it just, it's a mind of its own at that point

53:20

because the male competitiveness.

53:24

- Which has been their plan all along from the beginning.

53:27

- Oh my gosh.

53:29

That's a dangerous Spitball.

53:30

Like I feel maybe.

53:32

- That's a good one.

53:32

- Ally, you're the,

53:33

(laughing)

53:34

Ally, Ally's sitting here like sitting on

53:37

a billion dollar idea.

53:39

Like I'm gonna turn every man into a chore machine

53:43

through gamification.

53:45

- Competition.

53:46

- Hey, I was just thinking about this for myself,

53:48

but if I'm gonna get y'all to do the chores for me,

53:50

bonus points.

53:52

- Leo did more chores this week

53:53

and now my wife's telling me about it

53:55

and now I gotta fricking do 10,000 steps

53:59

and do my chores.

54:00

(laughing)

54:01

- Of like a weekly leaderboard.

54:03

- You're not measuring steps,

54:04

you're measuring miles traveled holding a vacuum.

54:08

- You could get sponsors and then like

54:12

on the weekly leaderboard,

54:13

they could have like,

54:14

"Oh, you've won like a $10 gift card.

54:16

"Like take your wife out for coffee."

54:18

- You just won the Windex Weekly Window Wiping Champion.

54:21

- Yeah.

54:22

- There's the ads.

54:24

(laughing)

54:25

- You've earned a date night.

54:26

- Win a free Dyson vacuum.

54:28

- Ooh, if I could win myself some like scrub daddies,

54:31

I would be all for that.

54:32

- Guys, is this like a thing that could happen?

54:35

Like this feels weirdly like,

54:38

there are stupider apps,

54:39

I guess is what I'm thinking that are more successful.

54:41

Like way more stupid, way more successful.

54:44

Like, I don't know.

54:45

- We grew up in the generation where we had apps

54:48

that were literally pretend Zippo lights on our phones.

54:51

Do you guys remember that?

54:53

- Fart apps and yeah.

54:54

- Fart apps like.

54:56

- These apps are all about the networking effect, right?

54:58

You gotta have like other people on there

54:59

to feel like there's a community there.

55:01

So how do you incentivize initial signups?

55:05

- I mean, I think part of the social media element

55:07

of that to be like, "Hey, add me on this app."

55:11

- I think it starts as a to-do list.

55:13

It evolves into the social media elements.

55:17

So like you can't.

55:17

- Reel them in with the picture thing, yeah.

55:20

- And then you add like,

55:21

"Share your chore with your friend."

55:24

And then sharing your chore is,

55:26

"Compete against your chore lists."

55:28

Right?

55:29

And then all of a sudden it turns into.

55:31

- That's true.

55:32

- Husbands kill each other over chore lists.

55:35

(laughing)

55:37

- I'm gonna go throw a rock into my neighbor's window

55:39

so they have an extra chore.

55:41

I get ahead of them.

55:42

- That's just more points.

55:43

- Clean up the class.

55:44

- No, that's cheating.

55:45

- That's right.

55:46

Neighbors are doing their husband's chores.

55:48

- I was just gonna say,

55:49

you wanna do their lawn and yours to get the bonus points

55:53

and disincentivize them from getting the points this week.

55:55

- I'm gonna shovel so many driveways this winter.

55:57

- Exactly, right.

55:59

- That's the power of this app.

56:00

I think there's something dangerous.

56:04

- Competition, man.

56:05

- See, but at the base of it,

56:06

I really do just want a visual to-do list.

56:10

And I want something where I can take a picture

56:13

and then walk away,

56:14

'cause that is the amount of attention span I have.

56:17

I take the picture, I go somewhere else,

56:20

and then I still have the image where I can look at it.

56:22

And be like, oh yeah, I didn't just forget about that

56:25

'cause I walked through a doorway.

56:27

- Facebook just started out as sharing pictures

56:29

with their friends, and now look at them.

56:31

Evil corporation.

56:32

I'm just, Chorleys, Chorleys.

56:34

- So many evil corporations tonight.

56:36

- I guess so.

56:37

- Just a couple steps in between.

56:38

- No, I like the idea of a visual.

56:40

I don't know why that's not a,

56:42

it just seems like a accessibility thing too.

56:44

- There's gotta be someone listening to that to-do list

56:47

right now, or I don't know, Apple Reminders.

56:50

That's gonna be at WWDC 2025.

56:53

New feature to Reminders.

56:54

Take a photo, we'll use Apple intelligence

56:56

to turn it into a task.

56:58

- Or I think Ali's idea of being just photo-centric,

57:01

like photo-forward instead of an add-on to an existing,

57:04

it's just something's inherently different about that.

57:07

And you have to, if you lean into the whole photo element,

57:10

I think it's more different and fun,

57:13

'cause everybody has their own way to do to-do lists.

57:14

And it's just, I don't know, the photos sound better.

57:16

- Well, and like Leo said before,

57:19

my biggest problem with any to-do list app

57:22

is the input element, where it just takes more time

57:25

for me to input it into the phone,

57:27

where if I could very quickly do it,

57:30

it would be such a game changer.

57:32

And a photo is the fastest way to do it.

57:35

- We could do this with a Polaroid camera right now.

57:36

Like just put the Polaroid on a stack of Polaroid tours.

57:40

I don't know, that'd just be wasteful.

57:43

There's the MVP, yeah, I guess, is the Polaroid camera.

57:48

(laughing)

57:50

- Oh, one of my tasks was clean up Polaroid mess.

57:53

That's right.

57:54

- Taking a picture of the Polaroid.

57:56

- It's a picture of the stack of pictures.

57:59

- That's amazing.

58:00

- Thank you for listening, listener.

58:01

We hope you enjoyed yourself, you new chore machine.

58:05

And thank you, Ali, for being here.

58:06

This was a lovely time.

58:07

- Thank you for having me.

58:08

- Our website is Spitball.show.

58:11

There you can find links to our YouTube channel,

58:13

social media, email us questions, comments, ideas.

58:18

That's also how you can follow us on the Fediverse,

58:20

which is Mastodon.

58:23

And our subreddit is r/spitballshow.

58:26

Our intro/outro music is "Swingers" by Bonkers Beat Club.

58:29

Please, if you wouldn't mind, take a break from your chore

58:30

and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

58:33

I know you're doing the dishes right now,

58:34

but would you mind drying your hands off

58:35

and just real quick, hit that add button,

58:38

leave us a review, it'd really help us.

58:39

And it's the best way for people to find out about the show.

58:42

A new episode is coming out in two weeks.

58:45

We will see you then.

58:48

(dramatic music)