Tech It Out

Can you guess what’s the no. 1 VR game in the world? Also, travel hacks, the ‘Bubble Planet’ exhibit, and back to school gear

Tech expert Mario Armstrong shares some “back to school” suggestions for students of all ages (and their parents)
The most popular virtual reality game in the world? I’m joined by Kerestell Smith from Another Axiom, responsible for the massive hit, Gorilla Tag, which has exceeded $100 million dollars in revenue and with over 10 million players, says the company
I sit down with Hamza El Azhar, co-producer of Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience, a touring exhibit. We chat about the appeal of a live and in-person experience for families and friends
I’ll share some travel hacks for travelers, to help you save money, time, and aggravation
Thank you to Intel, Visa, and Western Digital

Duration:: 39m
Broadcast on:: 09 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ever-changing world of technology? Tech It Out can help make some sense of it all. Breaking down GeekSpeak into StreetSpeak, technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman covers consumer technology each week for every listener. Mark tackles the latest news, reviews, and how-tos to help you understand what's hot, what's not, and why. Hey everyone, welcome to Tech It Out, episode 357. I'm grateful you're listening to this show Tech It Out that's meant to not just celebrate technology, but my goal is to help demystify it, to make some sense of it in plain English. As the announcer said, I'm here to break down GeekSpeak into StreetSpeak. Hi by the way, to the awesome listeners of WTBQ, AM1110 and FM93.5. They're in the New York, North Jersey, and Orange County area. Hello, you're going to get a double dose of Tech It Out this week, so I hope you enjoy it. Well, we have a diverse lineup of guests and topics for you this hour. Virtual reality is getting so popular that one game, Gorilla Tag, has just hit $100 million in revenue, and 10 million players worldwide. Yes, you put on a headset and play a game of virtual tag, you know, tag your it, but with Gorilla's with no legs, no less. And it's awesome. We'll kick off Tech It Out with an interview about that. And since this is a radio show or podcast, we'll explain verbally what you see and experience when inside this 360 degree game. After that, Tech expert Mario Armstrong will join us from New York to share some back-to-school tech tips, whether it's for parents like apps to save you money, or great gear for students themselves like affordable laptops and such. Also on the show this hour, Bubble Planet Immersive Experience. It's an exhibit in New Jersey and other parts of the US and Europe, and it opens in Toronto, Canada this week. And so we'll sit down with the co-producer of this family-friendly exhibit to hear what you can experience there. And finally, it's still travel season for many, and so I'll share some of my favorite travel hacks to save you money, time, and frustration. That'll be later on in the show. For example, there's an app I use called Provo that saves you money on hotel rooms after you've booked it. So once you get your email confirmation from the hotel, whether it's, I don't know, Marriott or Weston or Hilton or maybe a boutique hotel, you simply forward that email without having to write anything else to save@provo.com. They keep an eye on that hotel room for you. And if the rate drops, which happens about 40% of the time, you're notified and you can re-book the reservation at a lower rate. The app and website walks you through how to do that. It's awesome. So those kinds of money-saving hacks and tips and tricks I'll share later on during this Tech It Out. All of this and more on an all-new Tech It Out, powered by Intel Core Ultra PCs, which I'll tell you more about shortly. But let's officially kick off this week's new show with our first interview. In case you don't play virtual reality games, yet, the company behind the massive hit Gorilla Tag says it's now the most popular VR game in the world, recently exceeding $100 million in revenue and with over 10 million players worldwide and counting. Developed by a company called Another Axiom, I'm thrilled to have on the show Caristell Smith, Chief Creative Officer at Another Axiom and the original solo developer of Gorilla Tag. And he's here to share with us what initially drove him to create this game, talked to us about its path to success and the standard that it has set for the VR industry as a whole. Welcome to the show Caristell. Nice to chat with you for the first time. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate the opportunity. And congrats on your successes, which we're going to get to. Before though, we talk about Gorilla Tag. Tell us in your opinion, what makes virtual reality games VR games especially exciting? It's kind of one of those things that actually goes back to even the wee days. And I really think it's actually the controllers, the ability to directly interact with your environment, to pick something up, put it down, see something move. It's really exciting. That experience is something that's very unique to the technology. Everywhere else you're using a controller, you're using a mouse and keyboard, that kind of thing. You don't have that direct haptic tactile interaction. So placing people in a virtual world through their sense of touch is extremely powerful. Yeah, interesting. A lot of people would answer that question about sight, how VR, it's like a 360 degree view of the game world and it's tied to head tracking. So when you're wearing this headset in real life, maybe just sitting in a chair at home, if you turn around your head 360 degrees, and I don't mean, you know, the exorcist kind of Linda Blair turning her head around 360 degrees, but you get the idea. You know, the character in that game is also looking around 360 degrees. So it's really immersive as a result. And the audio is also spatial. So it'll sound like, you know, a monster is behind you or a dinosaur is in front of you. That kind of thing. Interesting that you bring it to the touch element, agreed, is also super immersive. With that in mind, what's your take on the state of VR games today? There have been a couple of hits like Gorilla Tag. Is there the killer apps that a lot of people are waiting for in order to justify buying a headset? You know, for a long time VR was very high-end focused. You had to have a really fancy computer. You had to buy a really expensive headset. You needed to dedicate a space of your house exclusively to the technology. But now you can get a headset for $200 and everything you need is right there. You just throw it on your head, find a safe space to play in, and you can go. So we're at a really exciting point in terms of the technology where it's really available to everybody. We've got a technology that is now going to be in the hands of the mainstream consumer. So there's really a huge opportunity for the market because everything has really exploded within the past year or two, especially where there's actually a very large user base. If you make a really compelling game or piece of software, the audience is there looking for these experiences. I don't know how many killer apps we've really hit on yet, but because it's such a new and exciting technology, I think the opportunities are there. Fair, and the $200 headset you're probably referring to, MediQuest 2, which is still a decent headset, even though MediQuest 3 is out for a bit more than that. But then yeah, it does get a lot higher if you're talking PSVR 2 or, of course, Apple Vision Pro, which I would argue is not really a gaming headset. I did, by the way, Cara Stell. I wrote the book, Apple Vision Pro for Dummies, which is coming out in a couple of months. It's finished. It's just not out yet. One of those Dummies books. And yeah, there's a chapter on gaming, but it's really not designed for that, in my opinion. But yeah, you're right. For $200, MediQuest 2 is a really good VR headset. You know, it's interesting because people have struggled to find really that form factor that the market is going to land on, right? Like there are all these different attempts made in different directions, whether it's three degrees of freedom, whether you need the full room scale tracking, whether it's standalone, but really high-end. I think that kind of what has been the most successful is that low-cost standalone device. Right now, that's really been pushed forward by Medi, but I'm actually hearing some rumblings. There have been talk from Google and places like that about other companies finding more interested in the platform again. So I think we're at a really exciting time, hardware-wise. Yeah. Fun. And I remember Samsung also had the Gear VR headset where you snapped a phone in the visor part. That was the machine that drove the experience to the twin cameras in front of each eye. So kind of neat space. I've been waiting for it to mature. I remember, I think it was two Christmases ago. It became like a surprise hit. People couldn't buy a PS5 if I remember correctly and then called Oculus. Without further ado, Carastell, let's now chat about Gorilla Tag. What is the premise behind the game? It's kind of on the tin. You are a gorilla, although you have no legs. You run around, climb, jump with your arms, and you play tag. And it's really interesting because of how true that experience is. I still remember some of the first few times playing after I first made that multiplayer interaction. And I can still very vividly remember seeing somebody rush after me and just having that feeling of, oh my God, I have to run away. And you end up panicking a little bit and your arms slips and you end up jumping a little bit too high and you get caught. It's so primal to have that experience of running toward something or running away from something and really that chase and catch play is all mammals do it. And it's always been really exciting to me how well that experience of playing tag on the playground. You can actually really feel it in VR when you're not physically present with other people. And the lesson there to me is that VR can really create these experiences that can only happen otherwise in real life. And what's so cool about that to me is that it connects people as well. You're not just putting on the headset and closing yourself off from the world. You're actually connecting yourself to a group of people who can be spread all across the world and feel like you're in the exact same room as them. That is such a unique thing that only VR can do. And I think Gorilla Tag has really shown that as long as that experience is done well, it's extremely powerful and compelling. I'm looking at all the fan art about your game on the internet. So like a mock Lego set t-shirts like this is pretty wild. I'm going to ask you about this huge milestone that you hit recently. But before that, is there a reason why the gorillas don't have legs in the game, by the way? I mean, I understand that you may not need to run in the VR experience in order to play. But when you see another gorilla chasing you, for example, in the game, wouldn't they have legs in real life? It's funny, when I was creating the movement for the game, it originally wasn't gorillas, you were just kind of these robots. And my thought was, well, I want to be able to push off a surface to move, but I can't reach the floor. So I'm not going to crouch over. Well, if I didn't have legs and my torso just sat on the ground, then I could reach the floor and I could walk on my hands. And once that experiment worked out, I just couldn't get the concept of a gorilla out of my head because, you know, gorillas walk on their hands, right? You see the silver back and their knuckles are on the ground and that's how they walk. It's really about how do you fit the gameplay to the technology and in VR, moving your hands because they don't have to touch anything in real life are completely open and free. Whereas your legs in real life still need to stand on the ground. So it was kind of this marriage between the needs of the game and the capabilities of the technology. So it's something that seems counterintuitive, but when you're in game, it actually feels completely natural. Awesome. I'm even looking at a Minecraft mod with gorilla tech. Wow. All right. We're going to continue to monkey around with Carastell Smith about the game, gorilla tag, when we return on Tech It Out and a lot more after that as well. So stick with us. We'll be right back. Listen to Tech It Out whenever you want, find the Tech It Out podcast at iTunes wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to Tech It Out. Before we continue learning about the game, gorilla tag, Tech It Out is powered by Intel. Earlier this year, the semiconductor giant officially unveiled its Intel Core 14th gen mobile processors built as the world's fastest mobile processors with several laptops available by all the biggest PC makers as evidenced by many vocal computer gamers online. This new chip is celebrated by the passionate community with clock speeds up to 5.8 gigahertz allowing you to game, stream, record and share smoothly as these processors handle the most demanding tasks quickly and efficiently thanks to its up to 24 cores and 32 threads for incredible performance. Speaking of games, the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws is included on qualifying Intel Core i5, i7 and i9 14th gen processors when you purchase online, while supplies last, terms and conditions apply. More info on Intel Core 14th gen mobile processors is at intel.com. That's simply intel.com. Alright, let's get back to it. We're chatting with Carastell Smith. He is Chief Creative Officer at Developer called Another Axiom and they are the folks behind the Gorilla Tag Game. It really was you, right Carastell? I mean, now you've got, I'm sure, the budget to have a full team, but it was your idea. You conceived this just to be clear. Yeah, it originally started as a solo project, which I think is really cool. I didn't have a lot of art experience. I didn't have a ton of gameplay programming experience, but I had a lot of VR experience and I developed a really deep understanding of what I liked about different VR games, what aspects were important to me and what I was really connecting with. And I was able to build something that other people connected with as a result. So to me, the lesson is that there is a lot of compelling information out there about what works in the medium, and as long as you understand that really well, you can create something even with a very limited amount of resources, which is a very exciting time to be working in a new medium. And it's super inspirational because there are those who don't have the budget to create a game and you make a massive title like this. There's songs about Gorilla Tag on Spotify. People are going bananas over this, sorry, I couldn't resist. So again, congrats. What do you need to play Gorilla Tag? What VR headsets do you support? Right now, we're on the meta quest platform and we're on Steam. So we're looking into possibilities of expanding that, but right now, as long as you've got a meta quest, one, two, or three, or any PCVR capable headset that can connect to Steam, you can play. Awesome. Tell us about the milestones that I hinted at off the top in terms of revenue and number of players worldwide. Yeah, we've actually hit over a hundred million dollars in lifetime revenue. And we have over 10 million unique players and those numbers are going up all the time. Really to us, the lesson there is that this is a place where you can run a viable business. This is something where the market is growing. There is a user base out there that's really hungry for new games and new experiences. And where it really feels like we're out of those doldrums, you know, there was a period in VR where it really felt like past that initial exuberance stage, you know, where's the market going to go? Where's this industry going to go? We're at the point where I really think it's only going to go up. So if this is the worst it's ever going to be, then things are looking pretty good. Of that hundred million in revenue, is that just the cost to play the game? And if so, how much does it cost to buy or download Gorilla Tag? Or is there in game purchase options like DLC, downloadable content to add new things to the game? Or does this also include merchandise that I've talked about, like Gorilla Tag plush toys that you actually sell yourselves? Yeah. You know, we've dipped our toes into merchandise recently and we're looking to expand that more, but most of this is from in-app purchases of cosmetics and stuff. We really think that that's kind of the best way to monetize because it means that we can have the game free for everybody to play, except on Steam. There are some issues with hackers and stuff, so we did put a price gate on that. But most of the income is from those cosmetics. It allows us to put all of the cool, fun new gameplay features in and have everybody experience it. And then we sell extra ways to customize your Gorilla using currency that you can also earn for free over time. We think that it's really great social experience and people are really excited to kind of like show off these cool things that they want to wear and new exciting toys to play with. And I feel really good about the way that we've monetized. I don't think we've needed to do anything like loot boxes and all that kind of stuff that feels kind of scummy. Yeah, for sure. What about the high tops? I see there's some kicks and some sneakers with that Gorilla Tag. That's all fan made. You know, there's a really huge community of people who just love the game and want to show it in any way they can. I can't say we've officially licensed any shoes, but I will also tell you that if I see anybody wearing Gorilla Tag merch in the wild that we haven't made, I still kind of smile a bit. That's awesome. And I know you can forgive my banana pun because you're using terms like in the wild or primal or something playing tag with gorillas. And then before we wrap up, what's next for your company? You know, we're going to keep expanding Gorilla Tag. That's our biggest focus right now. But we're also working on some other projects, the industry of social VR. I think people have been really intoxicated about that idea for a long time. If you ever hear terms like metaverse, it's been tough to define what that means. But there is this sentiment that there's something that people really want to exist, this feeling of an alternate world that you can hang out and spend time with people and interact with communities of people that you struggle to connect with in real life. So really trying to push forward that social side of things and create experiences where you can connect to larger groups of people and form those real, true human relationships with other people through the technology. That's really our laser focus is on how do we build and enable those kinds of experiences that I'm really excited about some of the stuff we're building. It's really going to be awesome. Sounds like it. Sounds like you're excited as are the millions of fans that you have. So once again, congrats. Where can we learn more about Gorilla Tag? The best ways to do that is to follow our social media and join our Discord. We have links on GorillaTagVR.com. Other than that, please check out the game and find Gorilla Tag on the MetaQuest store for on Steam. All right. Carousel, great to chat with you. Congrats once again. Thanks for your time. Thanks so much for having me. Well, it's almost back to school time. So we'll chat with tech expert Mario Armstrong for some gadgets and gear suggestions when we return on Tech It Out. Want to follow Mark? Google it. And it's Saltzman with a Z. Breaking down Geekspeak in the streetspeak. This is Tech It Out. Tech It Out with technology columnist, author and TV personality, Mark Saltzman. Welcome back everyone. You're listening to Tech It Out. Like it or not, and kids, I'm talking to you and I hear you, it's almost that time. To head back into the classroom. But how could you be sure you're ready for back-to-school season? Thankfully for us, we've got digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong with us with the scoop on the tech and school gear to help prepare students and their parents for class. Hey, Mario. Good to chat with you again. You're at the chat with you too, Mark. And you're right. It's like, yeah, it's for the kids, but and the parents. I love how you keep sliding that in. Well, we're the ones who are often flipping the bill. You know, maybe those in college have to pay for themselves. Did I get that? I can relate. In fact, I should tell our listeners, Mario, that before we chat about some products that can help students out, why don't we start with how we can make school shopping easier on our wallets, whether it's the kids paying or mom or dad. And there's so many different things out there. And you're right. People are in the mode of really wanting to save money. They want their dollars to stretch. They want to make sure they're making really sound investments. So I partnered up with a few brands that we'll talk about today that really fit that. And so the first one is let's deal right with the money. It's to PayPal app, like, honestly, if you're looking for electronics, if you're even thinking about buying clothes or school supplies, they have stackable cashback deals from some of your favorite brands. And you just basically click to save the offer you like on your mobile device. And then it will automatically apply that at checkout, which is great because you can then stack these offers on top of each other with your favorite card. You can use the PayPal cashback card and you would even get an additional 3% when you pay with PayPal, so for cashback. So it's really, PayPal is a great app to use. It's going to have all your favorite retailers, everything that you need to shop through that. But the good thing is you'll get cashback by doing it. Oh, love that. With three kids in college, I certainly love that. And what about some creative ways to tackle the back-to-school season for kids of all ages? I mean, what have I told you, Mark, that you could, like, customize fun stuff with your kids for back-to-school? Like, you can customize and personalize gear, like backpacks, notebooks, water bottles, t-shirts, like cool stuff like that. So I have this smart cutting machine, it's called Cricut Joy Extra, that's X-T-R-A. And it's a cutting machine that can really cut, write, draw, and foil on over 50 materials, including vinyl and iron on. They have a free app, it's called the Design Space App, which is user-friendly, it's compatible with all their Cricut machines. And you can create your own designs, which is really great if you have that designer or creator in your family, or you can get inspiration from the community where they share designs and other ideas and templates. It's just a great way to start, kind of get started for the new school year and a great way to personalize some of the stuff that you're going to have anyway. I'm so glad you brought up Cricut, they're one of my favorite brands. And I love that you can customize anything from jean jackets to lunch boxes, like you said, water bottles. In fact, that's how we found out about Cricut a few years ago, my wife Kelly is a fitness instructor and it was her birthday and she got a gift from one of her clients that had her name. It looked super professional on the water bottle and that was done with a Cricut machine. So that's the Cricut Joy Extra, a cutting machine and the Design Space App that goes along with it. Huge fan of that. We should tell our listeners, Mario, that we're not going to be mentioning pricing on the air today. If you're interested in any of these items we're going to chat about, you can head on over to inthenews.tv for links to the products themselves to buy it. You can see videos, you can see Mario in action, most importantly. Why don't we now pivot and chat about some essentials, let's call them, that have caught your eye this season. Yeah, and there are a couple that have caught my eye and one of those is at Staples where they have a lot of great back-to-school essentials. They're always on top of it every single year to help you really not only show off your style but also make sure that your tech savvy and one of the things that I had on set with me is the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 with Windows 11 Home. The reason why I like this one, number one, it's very affordable so go to inthenews.tv for the pricing on that but it's also portable, lightweight, it's fast, it's flexible and it has great sound. It's got the Dolby Audio Certified speakers in it which, you know, if you have a laptop, speakers are always struggling on a lot of laptops so it's great when you kind of hear one with some great sound. And hey, if you're in your dorm room and you're using your laptop for entertainment, you're going to want it nice and loud too, right? That's right. Yeah, you're not going to always want to have to plug it in or connect it to speakers and things of that nature. That's a great point. And I like that it has the fingerprint sensor for easy login so you can just like hop right on it boots up quick, fast charging battery on there as well. And I didn't know this but you can trade in eligible devices at Staples and score an e-gift card. So if you've got devices around you should look them up and take them over to Staples, see if you can actually trade those in, see if they're eligible. And if you're a teacher, pay attention because you can also get 20% off in store with the app coupon and your teacher ID. So don't buy it without using those two things so that you can score that 20% off. Love it. What's I XL? Ah, it's another essential. This one, Mark, I wish I had when I was a kid because this is like I have different, I'm a visual learner and so I really and hands on. So I'm kind of like mixed learning mode. So this is a learning program for math, language arts, science and social studies. It's used by 15 million students and it essentially caters to different learning styles. They have video tutorials, interactive practice, games, you can do this on the computer, the tablet or the phone and it's just a great way to stay on track of your studies or just catch up if you were like me and so new customers can get 20% off for a limited time right now. And that's simply at ixl.com for multiple subject matters as Mario said. Our guest is Mario Armstrong, digital lifestyle expert. He's a regular on national TV programs. All right, Mario, let's end off on something that I think a lot of parents can relate to. They visit their kids in their dorm rooms and it's a bloody mess. Two of my three kids. I got to admit, it's my boys, not my girl where like I was, I felt like I was stepping through a landmine. They leave beer bottles lying around and open food containers. And yeah, I think you might have a solution. So please share. So this is interesting, it is called the STEM attracts and trap flying insects light trap. This is made for students to take care of their space in their dorm room. Like maybe, you know, you get friends coming out of your dorm, right? They leave food around, windows open. And so next thing you know, you have insects hanging out in your dorm room. So this is free of insecticides. It plugs into a wall outlet. It's people pet and plant friendly. It's got a soft UV blue light for 24/7. It's not sticky. You don't have to worry about getting your hands sticky or anything like that. It attracts flies, mosquitoes and more. And it's dual sided refillable cartridge. So it's easy to replace. So that's by the company STEM STEM for bugs.com is the website to learn more. Good practical pick to wrap up with. Let's now plug that website one more time, Mario, for info and links on all of these items that we've chatted about. Yeah, because I want you all to save money and it is that back to school time. So hopefully something on here makes it on your list that you could really benefit from. So just head on over to in the news.tv. You can see more details, video of everything up close to as well. All right, in the news.tv, Mario, always great to chat with you. Can't believe it's already back to school season. Have a great rest of your summer. Be well, man. Enjoy the rest of your summer as well and next thing you know, it'll be the holidays, buddy. Talk soon. When we return on Tech It Out, we learn about the bubble planet immersive experience. Intrigued? We'll tell you all about it when we return. Stay with us. Raking down GeekSpeak into StreetSpeak, Tech It Out, hosted by Mark Saltzman. Welcome back to Tech It Out, brought to you in part by Visa and how securing the world's payments is priority one. I'll tell you more about them shortly, but let's continue on with the show. As much as I'm a techie and there's no shortage of great entertainment experiences at home, nothing beats in person and interactive exhibits that you can experience in larger-than-life environments, with friends and family. And so I'm here at Bubble Planet, an immersive experience currently in Toronto, and I'm sitting with Hamza El Azar, co-founder and CEO of a company called Exhibition Hub and he's the co-producer of Bubble Planet. Thanks for your time, Hamza, and congrats on this latest City Toronto for this immersive experience. How are you? Very good. Very good. I'm pleased to have this interview with you. Thank you. So why don't we jump right in, Hamza, at a high level, what is Bubble Planet, an immersive experience all about? Bubble Planet, we created it. It's several rooms, 11 rooms and it's thematic rooms about bubble, balloon and in general. And you have like different rooms that you can go through. It's like from the infinity room, that is a beautiful room where you can do a lot of selfie to the ball pit where you can jump and go into and swim into a lot of balls. And it's an experience that was designed for family because we found that like we designed it three years ago and we found that there is not enough family entertainment in the world for people to enjoy themselves and go with their family and that's why we created Bubble Planet. I just had a chance to go through the exhibit. It was really fun. And what I love about the theme of bubbles is that it could mean both bubbles that float through the air and there are some interactive experiences that make you feel like you're exploding. And then there are bubbles under water. And so part of the exhibit also and even virtually has you underwater experiencing bubbles as well. So I love that sort of dual sort of take on bubbles. Yeah, yeah, exactly. What we try to do is to mix all interactivity, new technology and also some live experiences where you have just simple balloon in an ocean and you are just jumping and hitting it like it's and we tried also, for example, the VR that is a superb experience where you are inside like you are the bubble and like it's in different area. For example, you are a bubble in a champagne bottle, you are like you're experiencing like if you were the bubble. I love that. Yeah, whether you're in the air or in liquid, we'll get to more about the VR experience in a moment. So you mentioned this exhibit is for families and I can see it skewing younger for sure with some of the fun things that you can do. But I understand that adults, I think they call it kiddalting where adults find this kind of like tranquil, peaceful, almost meditative kind of experience. And I'm basing that on the other cities that this has been in across Europe. There was one stop in Asia and in numerous US cities. Is that fair? Yeah, correct. No, it's not like I'm having fun like when I go with my friend, I'm just having fun because like I'm trying to be the kid that I was before and like no, like there is a lot of people that come together like friends and just enjoy themselves. And they're loving it. Like we see that on Instagram, like with people like they're having 50 years, 55 years and they still enjoy it. Like it's for me, it's starting at two years and ending at 75, 80 years. Like there is no age to come to see bubble planet. And why Toronto as your latest stop? Yeah, Toronto, it's very special for me because my partner with who we created the company was based in Toronto. Mario. Mario Yacampo. Yes, correct. And I'm sorry for your loss. I understand he passed away. Was it last year? Yeah, it was last year, October last year. And that's why it's super important for us to be here in Toronto because it was his city. He was living here and he started the project just before and we are just continuing what he started. And that's why like for me, it's a super important to be here in Toronto. Love that answer. Thank you. Not to mention there's over 5 million people here of all walks of life and no doubt. This is a universal topic, right? It's not a North American thing. I think it's universal. This feeling of transcendation, like almost spiritual like experience and you're based in Belgium. Is that right? Right. We are chatting with Humza L Azar. He is co-founder and CEO of Exhibition Hub and that's the co-production company of Bubble Planet where we are now, Bubble Planet, an immersive experience. This is in several US cities as I mentioned earlier. Is it anywhere right now or does it close down in one city and open up somewhere else? Yeah, we closed in Los Angeles and we moved it to Denver. Denver is still showing now. We are also in New Jersey in the American Dream Mall and it's like we are having a lot of people in the different cities where we are and we are very happy to be there and like that's only the beginning, we'll have, they will do a lot of babies and we'll have a lot more of Bubble Planet. That's great. Before we wrap up, this is a tech show and so I just wanted to spend another moment on the virtual reality experience. You sort of sit in these suspended chairs, put on a VR headset and you don't have to be skilled at VR or anything like that, the experience just starts and it's like you said, you're almost inside of a bubble and you're experiencing different environments from underwater scenes where you float into a giant clam to floating above like a forest with trees that seem like cotton candy, if you will, and colorful flocks of birds and then you go into the ocean as well. This is a pretty wild ride. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's why we love this VR experience because it's totally different on what you see from the beginning of the experience, some video that you can see in 12 minutes, 13 minutes and there is nothing like you don't need to be a fan of VR or having used it before. Like we have a lot of people that it's for the first time that they see a VR experience. And then finally, what's the best website to learn more about Bubble Planet? Okay, it's easier to go on Google, tap in Bubble Planet Experience and you will find directly the website, where you can see the different rooms that we have and you can buy a ticket there. Hamza, thank you so much for your time, congrats on the launch of Bubble Planet and Immersive Experience Toronto and enjoy your time in Canada. Thank you, it was a pleasure having you here. Even more, tack it out when we return. Stick with us, we'll be right back. Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, listen to Tech It Out whenever you want. Welcome back to Tech It Out for our final block. Hey, we cover Cybersecurity a lot on this show and how you can best protect yourself in the digital age, even if you're not super tech savvy. One part of the solution is securely shopping online and so I'm thrilled about my partnership with Visa on Tech It Out as they've made significant investments in fraud prevention over the past five years. As much as $10 billion, all to support Visa's brand promise to protect the financial information of individuals and businesses. Zero liability means peace of mind when you shop online using your Visa card. There could be no half measures when it comes to Cybersecurity. Learn more about Visa and how securing the world's payments is priority one at Visa.com/security. And speaking of securing your information, don't forget to properly back up your files on a regular basis. On my laptop, I have a Western Digital My Passport Drive connected to it via USB and every morning at like three in the morning, I think it is, it automatically backs up anything that's new or changed to the external drive. And I love that it can store several terabytes of storage. If I was going to pay for that in the cloud, it would be a lot of money and that's a recurring cost every month. So I like to have offline local storage, high capacity and a trustworthy company like Western Digital. You can decide if you want a hard drive or a solid state drive, they each have their own benefits. There's lots of sales, especially during the back to school season. Head on over to westerndigital.com for more. All right. So as I mentioned earlier in the program, I travel a lot and recently I was asked to share some of my favorite travel hacks. So a couple things, even before you leave home, digitally scan your passport, your driver's license, health card or insurance information and roadside assistance cards and keep those images on your phone. In the event, any or all of these are lost or stolen. On a related note, add your credit cards and debit cards to your Apple Pay, wallet for iPhone or Google Pay, wallet for Android in case they're misplaced. You can still buy things by tapping your phone. And of course, if your phone becomes lost, stolen or damaged, make sure it's locked with a password or pin or your face, you know, biometrics, information, your fingerprint. So only you can access them. Speaking of your phone, if you left home without the plug to charge it up, but you still have the cable part, plug it into the hotel room's TV. There's usually a USB port on the side or back and that will charge up your device. If you need a USB cable in a pinch, check out your local dollar store as they'll likely have them and it'll be a lot less than a big box store. If you can't find a spot to sit in the hotel lobby to browse on your laptop, most people don't think to go to the second floor, sometimes referred to as a mezzanine and you'll find plenty of seating, quiet and plugs as well for your laptop. If you don't want to bring your laptop on a trip, but you still need to use a computer for a bit, maybe to read and respond to lengthy emails, be careful using public PCs, you know, in a hotel's business center or airline lounge as many people forget to log out before they walk away. So if you do log into your email, make sure you log out and also look for an option to clear the history and cash of that browser. If you want to save money on calling people on vacation, don't forget over Wi-Fi to use free apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger or FaceTime. As you can make calls and video calls for free, if you're going overseas, be sure to rent a SIM card or a SIM number if your phone supports it as it'll be much cheaper than roaming with your existing carrier. I recently used the company Arelo, which was super cheap and reliable when I was in France. Another little hack if you miss your standing desk at the office or home office when you're traveling, open the closet in your hotel or motel room and chances are there's an ironing board in there. Well, open it up, place it somewhere in the room with good lighting and place your laptop on top. It'll likely be the perfect height for you to prop up your computer and start typing away. And finally, Provo, PRUVO, it's an app and a website that will save you money on your hotel room after you've booked it. It's for the email reservation or confirmation to save@provo.com it'll keep an eye on the room and apparently 40% of the time that hotel room will drop in price and you'll be walked through how to book a new room and cancel your existing reservation. I've saved literally thousands of dollars over the years with this one. A couple of non-techy hacks before we wrap up. If your hotel room doesn't offer an iron for your wrinkled clothes, that old shower trick really works. Hang your clothes on the bar above the tub with a hanger and turn on a hot shower. Of course, point the shower head away from your clothes, put it against the wall or something. Then close the bathroom door for five or ten minutes and when you return your clothes will be perfectly pressed. Are the drapes open just to crack and the sunlight is disrupting your sleep? Take a clothes hanger from the closet, the one with the clips underneath and clamp both sides of the curtains together. If your hotel gave you a disposable shower cap you don't need, use it to put your shoes in a suitcase to keep everything clean. And finally, if the room is super dry, an instant hack for increasing the moisture in the room is to hang a wet towel in front of the room's radiator, maybe laid out over a suitcase rack and the heat from the radiator will evaporate the water over time. There you go, my favorite travel hacks. Hey, thank you to Intel, my partner on Tech It Out. Take advantage of some great back-to-school deals on Intel-powered laptops and desktops. But for the Intel Core Ultra badge, Intel.com has more. Have a great rest of your day, everyone. And I look forward to catching up with you next weekend for another episode of Tech It Out. Bye-bye for now. You