Human In The Loop, Why Libraries Still Matter, AI in the Bathroom, and the Real Reason Your Power Bill Is Rising

The tech cycle keeps turning—covering beige PCs to the early web, from must-have apps to autonomous hype—and now a surge of AI. We examine what actually works: a human-in-the-loop approach that shifts AI from just spraying out content to becoming a disciplined helper. I share my real workflow with multiple models and editors, how I verify sources and citations, and why reading, revising, and pushing back always beat copy-paste. If you’ve noticed that nagging “polished but shallow” tone in AI output, you’re not imagining it; here’s how to improve it.

Then we turn to an unexpected hero in the streaming age: your local library. As catalogs fragment and subscription costs increase, libraries are quietly remaining the last true video rental stores, keeping classic films available when platforms drop them. We explore access, licensing hurdles, and why physical media still protect culture. If you miss the joy of browsing shelves—and the surprise of discovery—this will make you smile and maybe prompt a visit to the stacks.

We also explore a controversial product: AI-powered toilet cameras marketed for gut health. Aside from the high cost, the main concerns involve privacy, encryption, biometrics, and data security. For patients with chronic conditions, targeted monitoring can be helpful under medical supervision. For everyone else, we consider the risks, accuracy, and potential issues from false positives so you can decide if this goes too far.

To wrap up this episode, we examine rising electricity prices through the lens of actual grid economics. Blaming AI data centers or EVs overlooks the bigger picture: substantial fixed costs in generation, transmission, and distribution. In areas with spare capacity, new demand can lower prices by spreading out fixed costs; where infrastructure is old and constrained, upgrades tend to increase rates. Understanding capacity margins and planned investments provides more insight into your bill than any headline. If you enjoy practical insights into technology, culture, privacy, and infrastructure, you’ll find this space engaging.

If you enjoy The TechMobility Show, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who loves tech with context.

Chapters

• 1:11 The Human Way to AI
• 13:33 The Last Video Store
• 22:20 AI in Your Bathroom: A Step Too Far?
• 33:21 Smart Toilet Cameras And Privacy

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:07

Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast. Brought to you by Playbook Investors Network. Your strategic partner for unstoppable growth.

SPEAKER_03: 0:15

Visit pincommunity.org to get started. I'm Ken Chester. On the Docket, the last true video rental store, an encrypted smart toilet camera that isn't, and the real reason electricity prices are rising. To add your voice to the conversation, be it to ask a question, share an opinion, or even suggest a topic for future discussion, call or text the Tech Mobility Outline, that number, 872-222-9793. Or you can email the show directly. Talk at techmobility.show. For those of you who enjoy Substack, you can find me at Ken C Iowa. That's K-E-N, the letter C, I O W A. From the Tech Mobility News Desk. Normally right here, I would probably be pulling a story out that I'd want to talk to you about, that I'd read, researched, found interesting, and wanted to share and comment on. But today, I'm going to go off the rails. I'm not even going to follow the script. I'm going to do something completely different for this segment. I want to talk to you. Yeah, you about AI. And no, we've reported on AI a lot here, and I'm not going in that direction. I'm going to do something a little more personal. And I call it H-I-T-L. That's AIHITL. Artificial Intelligence Human in the Loop. And before I pull back, just what I mean by that, let's do what I normally do, and I talk a little history. I was I've been thinking a lot about this recently. And it's like it's another cycle. Let me explain. I graduated college in 1980. And the first Fortune 500 company I went for, which was my first major employer after that, sent me to Des Moines, Iowa in 1982 with a check for$5,000. My job was to pick up an IBM AT computer and a nine-pin wide carriage printer. That was cutting-edge technology in 1982. And I'm talking dual floppies, the big five and a quarter inch floppy discs that ran that thing. To give you an idea, my cell phone, which is not even a fancy one, probably has at least a hundred times or more uh capability than that did. But that was the first thing. The first thing was computers, personal computers in the 1980s. By the time I got to another department at that company, I had my own personal computer on my desk. An Epson Equity 2. Had a clock speed of 12 megahertz, had a memory of 20 meg of RAM. Who would ever use 20 meg of RAM? We thought. Oh my God. It wasn't connected. The only thing was connected to the printer downstairs, so I could print downstairs, but as far as to the rest of the world, no, it wasn't connected. In the 1990s, this evolved into the internet, and in 1993, the World Wide Web. And that was the big thing in the 90s. Everybody had to be on the web. And as the web grew, by the end of the 90s, the chant was the shiny object was you business, you no matter what size you are, had to have a website. Website, you had to have a website. Man, you had to have a website. The 2000s came. And in 2001, iTunes. 2007, the iPhone. By the end of the first decade of the 2000s, the big thing then was, because of the iPhone, you had to have a mobile app. Oh my God, how can you be a business and not have a mobile app? And that was after iTunes had totally changed music as we know it. The rise of Napster, for those of you that might remember that. Changed everything. Streaming services, everything. So we continue on. We continue on. In the later part of the last decade, it was autonomous vehicles. GM, Ford, everybody was pouring billions of dollars into personal vehicles. GM was going to launch a company called Maven that had robotaxis in 2018. Ford had a similar process called Canvas. They didn't happen. Three years ago, going on four, Chat GPT busted over into the public consciousness. And suddenly everybody, everywhere, everything, all the time. Oh my God, you need to be using AI. You got to use AI. Oh my God, if you're not using AI, you're so behind. You got to use AI. Let's talk about that for a minute. You may have also heard the term AI slop. And what that is, is it's AI run-amuck where folks just load it and it creates stuff. It's not accurate. You've heard it. You've heard the voiceovers that are wrong, the weird, slightly weird stuff that you're looking at a video and it does something a little weird. That is because these individuals and these companies have turned AI loose and assumed that AI unsupervised is good enough. I'm here to tell you it's not. So let me talk about what I do. Let's pull back the curtain for a minute. Yes, I do use AI in my work. I do not use it for just unsupervised creation. It gives me ideas, it gives me title options, it allows me to summarize things, it goes out and summarizes a lot of information for me that I don't have the time to do that allows me to be more efficient. Absolutely. The difference between me and a lot of what's going on out there in AI is H I T L. I'm the human in the loop. Nothing that I do using AI, nothing. I just put out there. I look it over. I will challenge AI. And some of the things I've learned about AI, because I use not just one AI, I use ChatGPT, yes. But I also use at least four or five other AI tools. And I bet you didn't know that. In fact, I have one subscription called Galaxy AI that has over 3,500 different AI tools. I use tools, like I said, four or five tools. And then not just use them, but I use them against each other. For example, if I'm writing, if I want a podcast summary for my podcast, I will take the initial AI written summary that Buzzsprout, my provider, generates. I'll run it through Grammarly, which is AI infused, take that over in the chat GPT to ask for titles, and maybe take it back into Grammarly to clean it up. But all the time I'm reading it. And anything I tell it to do, I've given it very specific instructions and I've controlled what information I want it to draw from. And I usually have the information in front of me so that I can review it for accuracy. Nothing I'm putting out there. I'm just going to put out there and trust it. And occasionally I've had to challenge AI and I've had to demand it show me its sources. Because very often I would say, use this source, write this. And I'd read it and it was nothing where I told it to do. I said, no, go back and use this source and write this. And even then I still read it, and very often I will change it, or edit it, or add to it. Because if you read enough AI, if you look at enough AI, if you realize what you're seeing, AI is very shallow. It sounds kind of professional, but it's shallow. You'll notice that it very often doesn't deal in specifics. It generally talks in like corporate speak, if you will. Sounds professional, sounds good, but doesn't dig in anything. Part of that is the old adage, garbage in, garbage out. AI is only as good as the source documents it pulls from. And even then you have to be careful because I've caught it doing what you've heard the term hallucinate, meaning it makes stuff up, which is a nice way of saying lying, but they prefer hallucination. AI is designed to augment your work, not replace it. It can be a help. You shouldn't be afraid of it. You can tiptoe into it. Me, I jumped off into it. And I'm having the time of my life. But I'm the human in the loop. H-I-T-L. AI, H-I-T-L. That's my brand of AI. That's how I use it. Because any using it any other way really should be criminal or at the very least unethical. Because AI by itself, I think, dumbs down the whole process. And that would be a shame for all of us to take a tool that can help us and use it to replace us. No, you don't want to lose that. Believe it or not, you can still actually rent a DVD in the United States. And here's a hint: it's not Netflix. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_01: 10:19

In business, opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources, and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling, or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunity.org today.

SPEAKER_02: 10:51

Are you tired of jumping out for absent platforms for meetings, webinars, and staying connected? Look no further than AOM Meetings.com. All in one browser-based platform that does it all. With AON meetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, post virtual meetings and webinars, and stay in touch with family and friends. All in one place and for one price. Here's the best part. You can enjoy a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. AON Meetings.com where Innovation Meets Connection. Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate.

SPEAKER_03: 11:23

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_01: 12:07

Your business is more than an idea. Let's make it an impact. Playbook Investors Network. Your future starts here. Learn more at pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_03: 13:00

And yes, the QX56 is now considered the QX80, and it's still their largest one, and is based off of the Nissan Armada. Case you were wondering. Infinity is the upscale nameplate for Nissan. And yes, they're still in business. Not as visible as Lexus is, but still very much very much in business. Although they're going to need to reinvent themselves, and that's the game plan in the years to come. But I thought I'd share that. Remember when you could rent a video, be it a VHS tape or a later DVD? Your corner video store, be it a blockbuster video, family video, roadshow video, or whatever your local place was called, you had a selection. And either a VHS player or a DVD, or if you were really advanced, a Blu-ray player at home. At my house, we had two of them. The memories. For those of you who still have your DVD players, not to fret. You can still rent DVDs in the United States of America, most likely even in your hometown today. This is topic A. You will never believe where you can find them. Your public library is the last repository for these DVD titles going back years and years. And in this story from 404 Media, one thing kind of popped out at me. There seems to be, and they're fighting it, librarians are fighting this battle. The attempt to make available older classics that they can get from the companies for rental, for borrowing, so that you can go there. I mean, let's be honest a minute. Streaming services cost a lot of money. And by the time you get four or five, like most of us, you know, you probably have Netflix, maybe you have Paramount Plus, maybe you have like a sports channel, streaming channel, or one or two more that you like. It's not unusual to be dropping$50,$60 combined, and that's on top of your internet expense. And if you're like me, where I get YouTube TV because I wanted my local channels, so that's like, and it's crept up. That's almost$90 a month now. And so all these other channels, and particularly if you got Roku and others, are another$30,$40 on top of that. Not everybody can swing that. And to be honest, maybe you don't want to. Your library is the place where you can go to discover even movies that you can't get streaming anymore. And doing the research for this story, one library in a big city said that the oldest title they could get, and they were getting them, they've got wholesalers that actually deal in this. And you've got streaming companies that may, from time to time, actually produce a physical copy. And that's the other problem. Movies nowadays, there is not a physical copy produced like a DVD or VHS tape back in the day. So if you are been watching movies in the last 20 years and you don't want to pay a streaming service and you want to see it again, it may not be available even at your public library. And it's not because they haven't tried. They are fighting right now the battle to have these titles, these classic titles, going back 60 and 70 or more years available to the public. So it's more than just borrowing a title and bringing it back. It's our very culture is at stake. For example, based on what they're saying, I couldn't go to my public library and and borrow It's a Wonderful Life, which is one of my favorite Christmas movies. It was made in 1946. And in today's world, those companies that control the physical copies that make it available for libraries to stock it so you can have it have decided that it's not either economically feasible or they don't want to support it. So that puts the libraries not only in a situation for those people who have limited means or don't want to spend the money for streaming services or just happen to love old movies that they want to watch and they want to pick? It's having the access to those movies at all. In other words, if I didn't want to wait until Christmas to see It's a Wonderful Life, and I try to see it every year. Maybe I want to watch it in June. Would this particular title be available for me to borrow from my public library? Would the way that the companies that control these titles work? Not necessarily. So there's that. Let me give you a glimmer of light to this subject. What the libraries are finding out is that number one, interest in these physical copies of movies that have been produced over the last 70 or 80 years is across all ages. A young person is as likely to come in and want to see it as an older person who may have remembered it when it first came out. When they do that, the library is also finding, and I'm talking about libraries across the country, are also finding a new found interest in other services that the libraries provide. So this is a case of libraries in a digital world remaining relevant, being relevant to their communities, even as people have moved away from physical books. Me, I love physical books. And I have my own personal library. And when I read, I read with a highlighter, a paper, a pile of paper clips, and a red felted pen for the ones that I own. Because I love hardcover. If I have a choice, I will buy a hardcover book every time. Also, why I try to stay away from bookstores. I if I walk into a bookstore, it's a hundred dollars plus guaranteed. Doesn't matter. I'm gonna spend a hundred bucks. Fact about it last year. Last year there was a book fair uh in Des Moines in my town, and uh yeah, yeah, sure did. Spent and is this stuff was on sale, and I still spent over a hundred bucks. And I had coupons, and I still spent over a hundred dollars. There are alternatives for those of us who don't want to pay these ridiculous prices. Your library is the place. And while you're at it, check out the stacks. There's wonderful things called books. And to read a book, not a Kindle, not a digital, there's something about turning pages and feeling the book that you cannot recreate in any digital medium. And I love my books. And I and I've had to plead with my wife, please don't buy me anymore because I have so many to read now. But yeah, I love books. And for those of you that would rather see a DVD of a movie, there's hope for you too. Don't give up. Check out your local library. Why would anybody own a smart toilet camera? More importantly, what if it wasn't as secure as advertised? It's a thing and X Next. This is the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_01: 21:20

You've got the drive, you've got the vision. Now you need the right partner to make it happen. At Playbook Investors Network, we power ambitious leaders with the tools, insight, and investment connections to move faster, grow stronger, and lead markets. We're more than advisors, we're your co-pilots in success. Because in business, standing still is not an option. Playbook Investors Network, fueling ambition and delivering results. Visit pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_03: 21:52

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. Okay, an end-to-end encrypted smart toilet camera. I just want that to sink in for a minute. I found this story in TechCrunch, and I had to share this with you. First of all, and trust me when I tell you, I am really trying to wrap my head around the concept of a smart toilet camera. And me, being me, of course, I got questions. This is topic B. Okay. Are you that health conscious that you would want an AI-infused camera to take a picture? How do I put this gently? Of what you leave in the toilet. Is your health that fragile? Let me explain. Earlier this year, the year of our Lord, 2025, Home Good Maker Kohler, Kohler's known for plumbing fixtures and everything, Kohler of Wisconsin, launched a smart camera called the Dakota. That's D-E-K-O-D-A, that attaches to your toilet bowl, takes pictures of it, analyzes the image to advise you on your gut health. How's your gut? Are you that concerned that you need one of these? Just saying. Kohler said on its website that the Dakota sensors only see down into the toilet and claim that all data is secured with end-to-end encryption. Okay, you lost me at camera in my bathroom. I'm sorry, I'm not there. I am not there. The tech crunch piece alleges that Kohler's not a hundred percent when they're talking about end-to-end encryption. And I'm gonna just touch on it. I'm not gonna take you all the way into the weeds, but let me just let me just break this little piece off for you. Using the right terms matter, especially in the context of user privacy concerns. Using the expression end-to-end encryption, which is widely adopted by messaging apps such as iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp, to describe what they call TLS encryption, is wrong. And Kohler claims that what they're using is TLS encryption and could potentially confuse users who see that expression and think Kohler actually cannot see the pictures the camera takes. They had a security researcher look this over, and this is what they said. That researcher also pointed out that given Kohler's given Kohler can access customers' data on its servers, it's possible Kohler is using the customers' bold pictures to train AI. You know? This just a step too far for me. I I'm sorry. We talk a lot about tech on this show of all kinds. This to me is I don't care if it's encrypted or not, it's a step too far. I don't think, at least in my case, I need anything like this. They told that researcher that Kohler's algorithms are trained on de-identified data only, or anonymized, as they call it. So, okay, let's just say you are that concerned about your gut health. What would this cost you? The Dakota cost$599, and that's not enough, a mandatory subscription of at least$699 per month. So you're paying, let me get this straight, you're paying$84 a year on top of the$599. What it does not get into is exactly what kind of information it's giving you for that. So let me take another direction and talk about what CNET reports on the Dakota. The C CNET reports that Dakota analyzes these images in order to provide updates on your gut health and hydration and to potentially detect blood. It also comes with a rechargeable battery, a USB connection, and a fingerprint sensor to identify who's using the toilet. Okay. Why can't I just type in a password? Why do you have to have now a copy of my fingerprint that is in your system on top of everything else? Particularly these days where it is not unusual for somebody to get hacked. I'm still not there. I'm not. I am really not. And you would think, okay, Kohler, it's a weird product. Okay, Kohler, you. But Kohler's not the only one doing this. There is another toilet camera offered by a company called Therone. Yikes. And they're an Austin-based health startup. Their camera clips on the side of a toilet bowl. And they use AI to examine the waste you leave as a way of determining things like gut health and hydration. And here's the question: Who thought that there was enough interest, one company, let alone two, that there would be a market for AI-infused cameras to analyze this stuff? One, who are you sharing it with? Two, how are you verifying that what it's saying is accurate? Three, what about false positives? There's other tests we take that are legitimate tests, whatever it is, that occasionally will warn of false positives. How much faith or how much concern should I have should this thing report there's a problem? Is it the type of problem where, okay, I need to arrange for a checkup with my physician? Or is this the type of thing where, oh my God, go to the emergency? Is it going to send the information to my physician? How is this information reported and what kind of protection is it? Because when you're talking about patient records, however they're however they're created, and these would be patient records, would these be protected under the HIPAA Act, which binds doctors and medical professionals and hospitals, which is extremely strict. Who gets to see it? Who gets to disseminate it? What do you do with the information? What does it mean? What does it actually mean? Questions. I mean, just because you can do something with technology does not necessarily mean you should. Wanted to share this with you because they're taking this stuff way far away. Now, to a point they did talk about those folks who had certain conditions, such as chronic digestive conditions, including Crohn's disease, alterative colitis, and IBS. If you're like that, I can see that. I can see certain situations where that makes sense. But for the rest of us, I got questions. Who gets the information? What do you do with it? What does it mean? Should I be concerned? And if so, how concerned? And what would motivate me to install this thing in the first place if I don't have a chronic condition? Would it do me any good? Would it help me? Would it is it worth the six or seven hundred dollars I'd have to pay? Electricity prices are rising, and it's not the culprit you think. That's next. We are the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_02: 31:18

Are you tired of jumping multiple apps and platforms for meetings, webinars, and staying connected? Look no further than AON Meetings.com, the all-in-one browser-based platform that does it all. With AON Meetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, post virtual meetings and webinars, and stay in touch with family and friends. All in one place and for one price. Here's the best part. You can enjoy a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. AON Meetings.com, where Innovation Meets Connection. Get started today and revolutionized the way you communicate.

SPEAKER_03: 31:51

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of The Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting TechMobility.show. That's Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_01: 32:21

In business, opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources, and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling, or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunity.org today.

SPEAKER_03: 32:53

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. Rising electricity bills, up some 19% in New Jersey alone. Conventional wisdom will tell you it's AI, it's data centers, heck, it's EVs of all things. But some recent research that I've read on the matter points to something much more simple and basic that is behind the price increases. Time for a little devil's advocate, folks. This is topic C. We have talked about the impact of data centers on electric demand in the United States. We have talked about the impact of more drilling and electric pumps for oil in the United States. We have talked about AI farms generating and just going into overdrive in the United States. And last but not least, we've talked about the impact of EVs, which is an uneven, unpredictable impact for anybody to forecast reasonably in the United States. And yes, all of these items will increase electric demand. That is true. But this here is more of an advanced economics lesson for you. Because here is the thought. This is a study from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the consulting group Brattle. And they suggest counterintuitively that more electricity demand can actually lower prices. Now let me explain. This is economics right here. If you have sufficient supply that's not being utilized, but you have paid a fixed amount to build, install, or otherwise make available that supply. You got what they call fixed overhead. Fixed overhead becomes cheaper the more customers you have, the more units you can spread. It's an econom it's an automotive budget situation. Why some cars can be built, why automakers build a lot of different products off the same chassis? They're trying to cover fixed overhead, and the more units they can spread it across, the lower the cost, the more competitive they can be. In the case of electric demand, if you are fortunate to live in an area where there is a lot of supply, then actually your cost per kilowatt hour may actually go down because now they can spread the fixed cost of the infrastructure across more folks, across the data centers, across the AI, across EVs. Where this becomes a problem is if you are in a jurisdiction that is already operating up over 95, 96, 97 percent of capacity, and that these new centers would require an additional investment, then yes, in those cases, it is quite possible that your electric rates will in fact go up. But it's not uniform across the country. And that's the point I think that the study is trying to make that just because demand goes up in your jurisdiction does not automatically mean that your electrical rates will go up. In fact, if the utility did their planning right, your rates actually may go down because now you've got more customers to spread that fixed overhead. They're saying the big money in electrical transmission, generation, and distribution is not the delivery of the power. It is the infrastructure to get it there and the infrastructure to generate it, is where the money is. The fixed overhead spread over 25, 30, 35, 40 years to make that return on investment. That's where the money is. In any capital-intensive industry, it's the same. Whether it be electricity, steel making, cement making, automaking, same issue, same economics. I can sell a car for less if I can build a million of them to spread the billion dollars that I spent to develop the chassis. If I can only sell a quarter of a million of them, then the prices are going to be higher. It's going to take me longer to make my profit, and I've got to charge higher rates. Pure and simple. It's business. Here's the flip side, and we've reported on this. And it may be a little buried in today's news, but let me bring this back out to your remembrance. We have talked about the age of the grid. You have three parts when it comes to electricity. You have power generation, that speaks for itself, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, renewables. That's a lot of money and it takes a lot of time. To get from market to market, you have something called transmission lines. These are the high voltage, high power lines you see that takes this stuff at very high rates to move them around to substations. When you walk outside and you're getting power from the pole or from that cable underground at street side, that's called the distribution network. By this time, it's been stepped down from the high voltage from the plant, then stepped down again for street service, and then finally at the uh transformer on your block or in front of your house, steps it down again so that you can use it. Because I don't think you want 347,000 uh megawatts delivered to your house, it'll burn down. In order to get it down to usable form, there is stepping, there are substations, but the difference is between transmission lines and distribution lines. But that the the actual bringing it to your house isn't the big deal. It's the infrastructure to make it and support it. That's where the money. Is. That's where the cost is. And most of these, whether they be the plants or the transmission lines, are 50 years old or older in a lot of utility companies. And if you're getting power on tele on electric poles, wooden poles still, they talked about the cost of copper, steel, the poles themselves. And I happen to know because about a year, year and a half ago, I was doing research on these poles and found out that a lot of the companies that made them went out of business. While demand was increasing, they couldn't make the numbers work. So you got fewer plants making these poles, a greater demand as utilities are playing catch-up double time to upgrade both their transmission lines and the dis distribution lines to support the growth. That's where the money is being spent right now, and that's why your costs are going up right now. If you happen to be getting power from a utility that has to build a major substation or major lines brand new, then yeah, your rates are going up. Even though you've got more people spreading across, but your rates are going up because the fixed overhead went up. And that's the issue. Will it always be this way? Depends. Depends on how the utilities manage growth. If they build smartly and upgrade correctly, it may be mitigated. If they're up against it, it's gonna cost you as they try to catch up. And that is really the issue.

SPEAKER_02: 41:47

This is the Tech Mobility Podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 41:52

Every great business starts with a spark, but taking it to the next level takes strategy, connections, and capital. That's where Playbook Investors Network comes in. We're your strategic partner for accelerating growth, navigating challenges, and capturing market opportunities before your competition does. Your business is more than an idea. Let's make it an impact. Playbook Investors Network. Your future starts here. Learn more at pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_03: 42:23

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_02: 42:49

Are you tired of juggling multiple apps and platforms for meetings, webinars, and staying connected? Look no further than AON Meetings.com, the all-in-one browser-based platform that does it all. With AON Meetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, host virtual meetings and webinars, and stay in touch with family and friends, all in one place and for one price. Here's the best part. You can enjoy a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. AON Meetings.com, where innovation meets connection. Get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate.

SPEAKER_01: 43:22

You've got the drive. Now you need the right partner to make it happen. At Playbook Investors Network, we power ambitious leaders with the tools, insight, and investment connections to move faster, grow stronger, and lead markets. We're more than advisors, we're your co pilots in success. Because in business, standing still is not an option. Playbook Investors Network, fueling ambition, delivering results. Visit pincommunity.org.