This week, we discuss Organizational Software. What are some of the applications you can use to keep your finances and daily life in order?

Author and Host Gretchen Winkler answers your questions on her new Cyberhawk, Rise of Hero's novel.

Author and reporter Kay Thomson just tried out for Wheel of Fortune! She brings us a bit of an inside look at that process.

William Sikkens, Bill Snodgrass, Gretchen Winkler

Welcome to

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User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,

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technology architect.

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And this is User Friendly 2.0.

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As always I am your host Bill Sikkens.

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And joining me

my co-host Gretchen and Bill.

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Welcome to this week's show.

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Hello there. Hello.

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So you know, listener feedback I'm now

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getting AI feedback,

somewhat unsolicited in some cases.

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And I was told that

I need to be more dramatic in my openings,

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but I don't think I'm going to go there.

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I know, I'm not sure what you would need

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to do to be more dramatic.

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Well, I do, and I'm sure

we're going to get comments on this.

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But, you know,

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my first name is William, but overacting

my last name is not Shatner.

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So, anyway, yeah,

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and if you want to come up

and if you want to

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come on the show, please,

do I have to show up?

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I don't know what you think.

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I'm a huge Star Trek fan, and I'm

in a Shatner fan, so, we can all, take a.

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Just relax. Everything's going to be okay.

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So hold it in your.

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Oh my goodness.

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Well, let's go ahead and jump in.

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What do we have in the news this week?

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All right.

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And the news is is Alexa suffering

from multiple personality disorder?

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Yeah.

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So that's an interesting question.

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And it's one

that's starting to circle around.

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So basically, what's going on here

is and I'm going to avoid the name.

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So I'm not activating everybody's

smart speakers every five seconds.

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Amazon is

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upgrading the voice assistants

to be more conversational.

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This is what's known as Alexa Plus.

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And it's something

that's been rolling out,

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for the last, oh, almost a year now.

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And it's in beta.

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You can get it with the appropriate

devices, echo devices and a subscription,

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which is kind of weird because it's

either free with your Amazon Prime

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subscription, which is, you know, nine

bucks a month or 12 bucks or whatever,

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or you can get it separate

just by itself for 20 bucks a month.

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So I think they're pushing

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on the Prime subscription or somebody

just ordered you mouth in any event,

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this is

rolling out and replacing the old version.

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And it's been an interesting thing

because not

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all echo devices

support the new assistant.

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So if you have some really old devices,

I have a tower.

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Yeah.

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The tower would be one of,

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the original echo

screens, show screens and stuff like that.

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So anyway, so what's happening?

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They're trying to build this in

and they're going forward with I.

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The more engagement

you can have with the AI assistant.

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And this isn't just Amazon,

the more time you will spend with it.

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So doing that and including certain

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personality is what's driving this.

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And it does create more

natural conversations, more,

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you know, accessibility.

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If you have a kids mode,

you can have family

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friendly customization and so on.

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But it is interesting.

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I've been trying out the new voice,

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so I ended up

and I need to sit down and kind of,

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streamline this a little bit.

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But right now, depending on which speaker

answers, you get a different personality.

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Which is a little weird.

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And, by default,

I believe it is for female and or male.

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Yeah. Oh, really?

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Yeah.

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And, Bill,

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you were talking about switching over

on one of yours to Scotland or something.

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No, I that was for an iPhone

that was switched to Irish.

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Okay.

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So, you know, I'm sure there's

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other things like that out there

or there will be,

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if they can figure out,

they can help sell it.

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There certainly will be.

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But at the end of the day,

it does take some getting used to,

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especially on an assistant.

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That's one of the first

and has been around for a long time,

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especially comparatively

to everything else.

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And all of a sudden

the voice is different.

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And not only that,

but the way the interaction

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is is a little bit different.

It takes some getting used to.

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Now, I have to say, in my own opinion,

I like it.

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I think they've done a nice job.

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It's almost like the original assistant's

daughter

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in a sense, or or others,

depending on who you talk to.

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Yeah.

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So anyway, so it's

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not actually multiple personality

disorder.

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Is this, you know, lewd still,

but it is a situation

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where because there's more configuration

options and different things like that,

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and the way the responses are

are a little bit different.

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And the other thing I've noticed is

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Amazon is trying to address this,

I think a little bit

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because when you switch voices

it now comes on I'm voice so

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and so your zen assistant

or your business assistant here.

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That kind of a thing.

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So it is interesting to see where

that's going.

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But I'd love to hear feedback

from our listeners out there.

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Have you experienced this?

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I mean, pretty much all of us

use Amazon from time to time.

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I just curious to see what do you think

of it and have you run into problems?

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From zero

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debug allows code execution

to be a malicious web.

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Pages. Yeah.

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And this one is kind of being considered

an emergency situation.

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This actually was talked

about couple of days ago.

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So a lot of the automatic updates

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will already be on a point

that you're hearing this.

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But basically what it is is Chrome

has a situation where there was a bug,

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zero day bug, which means it's already out

there and was found afterwards.

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And it allows for certain websites

to be able to run code on your computer

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without you knowing about it or verifying

or securing anything.

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So what you want to do

is make sure that you update it.

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If you have automatic updates turned off,

you really need to do this one.

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And basically what you do

if you have to do it manually is click

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the three dots

and then it settings in about Chrome

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and it will tell you

if an update is available.

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And then you just click on it

and you want to make sure

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that, you're on version one, 45.0

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.7/6 32.75.

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Boy, that's easy, a nice mouthful.

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I remember when I was like version one

and version two I guess that's yeah, yeah.

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Now, anyway, check on that and go ahead

and update if you have automatic updates.

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It should have updated by now,

but it's still worth checking to make sure

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that it actually did.

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It's fine because

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this is one where literally the code

execution blocks were not functioning,

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and when it was found out about it,

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put a script on their website

and start running code on your computer.

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Which is a bad thing

for a lot of reasons. Yeah.

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All right,

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I safety meets the war machine,

and I don't think we're talking Marvel.

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Yeah, I was wondering about that one.

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I heard about this too.

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And, No, it's not Marvel.

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And it's not science fiction either.

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So what they're talking about here

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is different companies and dealing with,

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what they want to do when it comes to AI.

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So, anthropic, if I'm saying that right.

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Became one of the first major AI companies

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cleared by the US government

for classified use.

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And that's all that includes

military applications.

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And it just kind of came out

what they're reconsidering

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their relationship with the company,

including a $200 million contract,

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because the safety conscious AI firm

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objected to participating

in certain deadly operations.

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So the so-called Department of War

may even designated

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as a supply chain risk

because it refuses to do this.

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So this all comes down to things

like ethics and definitely

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with AI and the direction

that's going. This is a big deal.

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I know it isn't a new thing for companies

to want to do.

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This was back a long time ago.

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I was involved with a company

that was doing

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some of the very beginning of streaming

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And one of the things with

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that is they did not want to use it

for the pornographic industry.

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A decision that, you know,

as far as I'm concerned was fine,

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but it also created some problems like

this and makes me think of the old VHS,

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Betamax or, you know, if you restrict

what you can do with the technology

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and somebody else comes out with one

that is not restricted,

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it will, definitely create a situation

where you're at a disadvantage.

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So $200 million contract.

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I mean, that's a lot of money.

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I bet.

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You know, every day

that goes by, not as much,

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but it's still a lot of money

at least at the time of recording.

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So yeah.

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Genitive medicine

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where blindness would

vanish is a possibility.

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So we and this is one thing I like.

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We get to talk about quality of life

improvements that technology brings.

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And the direction that this is going

is kind of

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very sci fi in some ways.

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I'll just put it like that.

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Things that ten years ago

you would have seen on Star Trek

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or Star Wars or whatever is now reality.

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And one of the things on

this is cybernetics

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and regenerative medicine

and other things.

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And one of the big things is,

is a lot of people suffer from sight loss.

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And this isn't just

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you have to wear glasses because you're

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It's things like molecular degeneration

and glaucoma and other things

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that actually take away your eyesight,

which takes away a good portion

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of your ability

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to appreciate and interact with the world

site is very important, obviously.

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I mean, I know I'm

preaching to the choir on that,

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but one of the things that goes along with

this is there's a lot of research

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going on on how to fix this possibility.

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And even as far back as 12 years ago,

there was a company

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that was doing an implant that basically

replaced your eye with a camera,

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and it was able to restore some sight.

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Now, this was very limited

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and would only be used

in specific situations

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because you would have to be totally blind

or it wouldn't be better for one night,

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and you would have to be compatible

and all the rest of this.

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Now that's forward to 2026.

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We're seeing that kind of technology

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being used in combination

on one side of cybernetics,

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replacing the mechanical components,

and on the other side,

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what this is talking about

with regenerative medicine,

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they can talk today

really regenerative medicine.

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That isn't that hard to say anyway,

where they're actually able

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to through stem cells

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and other things be able to,

as the headline says, regenerate the organ

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or the part of it that is no longer

working and restore sight,

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and in some cases,

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So it is amazing to see

where this is going

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and obviously the quality of life

improvements that this creates

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is phenomenal.

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So I'm glad to see stuff like this

starting to actually be available.

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All right, how to sell your old TV

and get some money for it.

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Yeah. What's this about. Yeah. This okay.

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So this topic came in

from a lot of listener feedback.

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And we have been talking retro games

and stuff

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like that lately,

which is where this kind of boils down to.

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What this is referring to

is CRT televisions.

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So the big old heavy one

that was huge that,

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you know, was what you use before

high definition, that type of thing.

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So this isn't really referring

to flat screens.

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And unfortunately when they break,

it seems like you just throw them away.

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But at one time I remember this

not so long ago

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you couldn't get rid of the CRT fast

enough.

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In fact, they were charging money to

recycle them and all that kind of thing.

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Fast forward to now.

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There is a very niche community that's

growing that uses this kind of technology.

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Retro gaming is one of them,

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but in certain scientific areas

where their machinery is based on

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CRT technology, you're seeing it there

and nobody makes picture tubes anymore.

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At least.

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And if you please correct me

if I'm wrong, I'd love to find them.

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But as far as I've been able to research

the there is nobody

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that is building them anymore and nobody

that is rebuilding them anymore.

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So once the tube goes bad, that's it.

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And what's happening is they are starting

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to become harder and harder

to find good ones.

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Old CRT picture tube is a consumable item.

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It lasts for a certain number of hours

and then starts to go dim.

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Or if it's color, you know,

the gun will go out, that kind of thing.

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So they do have a lifespan.

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So another ten years to go by.

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These are going to even get rarer

and rarer.

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And it's causing a situation

where certain technologies cannot function

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with flat screen or modern, video

mainly because the CRT system

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is something that is instant and real

and the modern stuff is digital.

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So it's recreating the signal,

which means you

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always have some kind of lag,

normally referred to as the refresh rate.

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You know, the faster the better,

but it still is out there.

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So if you have a working old CRT monitor,

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television, black and white color

doesn't matter.

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Take a look at places

like Facebook Marketplace.

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Be careful if you sell something.

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They are definitely very fringy,

but that or eBay

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or other situations like that

where you can actually sell these

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and some of the better ones

like the 18, 19, 20 inch,

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Sony try to trons that work

and that kind of things

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are fetching hundreds of dollars now

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because they are perfect

for some of these applications.

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So again, at the end of the day,

don't throw it away.

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You can probably get some money out of it,

at least donate it

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and somebody will be able

to make use out of it.

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It will stay out of the landfill.

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New drop privacy tool helps California

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residents to stop data brokers

from selling their personal information.

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Yes. So I thought this was interesting.

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I also thought we had talked about it

before,

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and I think it got cut because

when this came out, it was a big deal.

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This was launched January 1st of this year

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and it's created

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And the Bill.

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362 in California, run by the California

Privacy Protection Agency.

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And basically, it does one thing.

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If you're a California resident,

you can sign up for this thing,

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enter your identifying info

and re submit a request.

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And the idea is is it pulls

your private data from the data brokers.

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So in other words, if you've ever gone out

and googled your name and stuff

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like that,

and it comes up with a lot of information

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that is private, you probably don't want

on the internet, like your phone number

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or your list of your last info,

phone numbers and addresses.

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I mean, you know, it's

kind of interesting, in a,

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in not a good way

all the time of what's actually out there.

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They're looking at a way to be able

to deal with this.

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And the goal is to minimize things like

spam calls and text targeted advertising.

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And the big one is identity theft.

And scams.

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Because between all of the data breaches

we've had,

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including a recent one that's

now coming out of the federal government,

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from some of the events of last year,

Ada was moved

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off of the security systems

into some stuff that wasn't controlled.

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And there's even a rumor

that the entire Social Security

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number database might be on the dark web.

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I haven't been able to confirm that yet,

but it's looking like something like

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that would be the case.

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But even if not with just

the number of DMVs

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and other departments like that that have

been confirmed to have been broken into,

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you can take that and Google

someone's name and get enough information.

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Now, in some cases, to be able to call

a bank and say, hey, this is so-and-so,

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be able to answer the questions

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and, you know, drain checking accounts

and do other things

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that, you know, have all kinds of bad

things that come out of them.

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So I like to see something like this.

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I hope it's successful.

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Yeah.

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Basically where it's at right now

is if you're in California,

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you can submit the request

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you put off as of the first of

last month or 1st of January.

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And it'll go in there.

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The data brokers must start processing

the request by August of this year.

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And then they must, must,

must match the data

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and process it frequently.

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So I'm hoping this is going

to be more beneficial than the no call is.

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What's.

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And if they actually have some teeth

on this thing and can enforce it,

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it most likely will be.

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And just a footnote on that.

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The do Not call list

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was a theme that they tried

to set up the intentions of,

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but we're good

where you can put your phone number on.

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And the, spammers

weren't supposed to call you anymore, but

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what they ended up doing was downloading

the lists of the private numbers,

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verifying that they worked,

and then using those for the robocalls.

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And since a lot of that stuff

comes internationally,

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there was very little

that they could do about it.

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So it kind of backfired.

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The intention was good,

and if they'd been able

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to actually make it work,

it would have been great.

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But, unfortunately

it's a little bit different.

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And I have noticed lately

that the FBI and others

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are taking down some of these

robocall rings, as they call them.

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So, you know, at least that's good.

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But a lot of times

you just the bad guys set up a business,

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make all these calls, and then,

oh yeah, the feds took us down.

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So we walk away from a new business,

you know?

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So it's kind of an ongoing,

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cat and mouse game,

but it is at least moving in a direction

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that they're trying to do something

about it.

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And same thing here.

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Personal data privacy is not what it

once was.

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We've talked about that.

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But certainly

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in this set of circumstances,

it'll be nice to know if this works.

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And, you know, if the state of California

saying, hey, you don't follow this,

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you can't do business

in our state anymore.

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That probably has a lot more teeth to it

than the do not call us yet.

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Oh yeah, keep an eye on this

and see where it goes in

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any of our California listeners,

if you sign up for this,

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let us know how it goes

and what you think of it.

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And if you think this is going to be

something

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that will actually have some kind

of a benefit, my hope is that it does. So

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all right.

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That's what we got in the news

for this week.

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And our Tech Wednesday material.

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I've been trying to address

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some of the bigger questions

that come in from you, our listeners.

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And this week, the topic

that has come out of that is budgeting.

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So this is something that's

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a big deal for,

you know, pretty much anybody.

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If you have good money management skills

that can make things go a lot easier,

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you know, especially when you start

getting a retirement, that type of thing.

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But even as soon as paying them,

you know, our bill for the month.

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And then there are others

that lack these skills

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and it creates all kinds of problems.

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So like anything else, there are apps

you know, back in the old days,

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we used to call that computer software.

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But there are apps out there

now that will help you do budgeting,

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and there are some good ones,

and there are some

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that I would suggest

that you stay away from. Now.

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Rich and Bill,

have you guys ever tried out

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any of these budgeting

or even household management apps?

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No, no.

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See, I hadn't either

and I am reasonably decent with budget,

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but I'm one of those people

that I'll get the receipt,

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throw it in a box

and then worry about it at tax time,

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and then have to file two extensions

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because I can't get it done in time

because of the way that I did that.

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So where I started looking at this was

I thought, okay,

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if there was a tool

where I could photograph receipts

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and now I can do that with a camera,

of course, now.

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But one way it would keep them

organized a little bit better.

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That would be something

that I would find very beneficial,

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because even if I don't do anything else,

I would still have a chronological record

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of the receipts,

and the little paper receipts

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would be backed up because of course,

they're immediately lost or the paper

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turns black or something, you know,

where you can't really do much with it.

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So going through that,

391

there are some out there

that seem to have pretty good feedback.

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And in trying these just a little bit

to see what they are,

393

I kind of liked them in the first one.

394

Gretchen, you're going to love

this. It's called you and Abby.

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Actually, I'm sorry, it's called Y

and Abby.

396

I can't even get the acronym right there.

397

You need a budget is what that means.

398

Oh, okay.

399

So this goes through and has a set up

400

where you can kind of identify

what you need to pay.

401

You give every spend a dollar amount

if every dollar a job

402

is what they call it,

403

and go through

and kind of see where your money goes

404

and that kind of a thing, which is

a good reason for having a budget.

405

For me, it kind of had a learning curve.

406

It took a little bit to get into it,

but once I did, I kind of liked it.

407

Now, the one thing of it is with this

and a lot of the other apps

408

part of your budget

needs to be subscription

409

cost to the budgeting app,

which in this case is around $100 a year.

410

So, you know, it's something that

if you really want to have

411

good control over things, this is one

that you would want to look at.

412

It's not passive.

413

You have to engage with it

414

weekly in order for it to work,

and it will bug you if you don't.

415

So it's best for people

416

ready to change habits

that need a little bit of a kick in them.

417

Anyway. To be able to do that.

418

So that's a good one.

419

Monarch money

this is a top one for mint replacement.

420

Mint was an app that was out

for a long time that has become defunct.

421

And this has a feature that the other one

doesn't where you can sync accounts.

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So if you are in a relationship

where you and your,

423

you know, your partner have a, different

424

set up for your budget or anything

like that, or even if you put it together,

425

you can coordinate each

have your own account,

426

a very customizable

that doesn't have a free tier at all.

427

The previous one did

all that was very limited,

428

and it's more tracking oriented

than strict budgeting.

429

So it's the idea of figuring out

what's going to go where.

430

And that kind of a thing is versus

just a spreadsheet of

431

I need to spend this much for the month,

for my utility bills or something.

432

And it did definitely feel like it's

very well written.

433

But again, it does have a cost to it.

434

Again, a little over $100

435

a year or more, depending on what

you actually subscribed to.

436

The other one is called Pocket Guard

437

and this shows

how much you can safely spend.

438

It is a good beginner's

application is pretty automatic.

439

If you want something that's automated

that has, you know more to that.

440

One of the things that was interesting in

it is a dashboard.

441

One of them is am I broke?

442

Is the name of the dashboard, which,

443

kind of gets the, gets the point across,

I guess, under certain circumstances.

444

Now, as with everything,

there's another side of this list

445

and there's some that I would recommend

you avoid.

446

And the first one is Credit Karma,

at least as a replacement for budgeting.

447

Now, this is one

that's advertised a lot and out there.

448

And it's not like malware or anything,

but it does have

449

like certain things like the ability

to put spending limits on a category.

450

It seems like that would be a very,

you know, basic thing.

451

And it's really better for credit

monitoring and budgeting,

452

which is, I think, what

originally was supposed to be for.

453

But it's kind of moved into this.

454

It's free, but it doesn't do much.

455

Hey, know what problem you're solving?

456

I guess if you're looking into this,

457

another one that I found

was called Every Dollar.

458

And this one has all kinds of,

459

paywalls, including being able

to even sync with your bank accounts.

460

That's behind a paid tier.

461

Very manual, heavy.

462

You know, it's something that,

463

if you like certain things,

like the Ramsey approach,

464

if you know what that is,

you'll know what I mean.

465

Then maybe it's a tool for you,

466

but it's not one

that would seem to do a whole lot.

467

Copilot money is another one

that actually I kind of like.

468

The problem is,

it only exists on Apple and iOS,

469

so that kind of blocks out

a lot of the market for that.

470

And it seems like limiting. That is,

471

from Android is kind of a big deal

because Android is, of course,

472

the largest deployed base for smartphone

operating systems.

473

How do you do, app for couples?

474

And yeah,

475

it's a base model,

and it didn't work too well.

476

It doesn't do household finances,

which I thought was kind of a limitation

477

that really shouldn't be there.

478

You know,

the question that came out of this

479

in some of the comments is, is this

a relationship app or something else?

480

Anyway, let us know what you think.

481

This is user friendly. 2.0

we'll be back after the break.

482

You see here he's from the future.

483

He's got a really big computer

484

and he uses it uses it every day

485

and he uses it in every way.

486

I see you so you know, I'm

not that sure because he uses.

487

Welcome back.

488

This is user friendly 2.0.

489

Send us your questions and your comments.

490

User friendly dot

show is the place to do that online.

491

It's also your one stop for fighting back

episodes,

492

looking at things that we've talked about

in the past, checking out our guests,

493

looking at Tech Wednesday

and a number of other things,

494

and the other thing on there is

we have a shop page.

495

If you go to that and click on something,

doesn't matter what it is at Amazon,

496

you don't have to buy that item.

497

But anything you buy on Amazon

after you've click that link,

498

we get a little bit of Jeff

499

Bezos money, and I have no problem

feeling guilty over doing that.

500

Let's say you go on and look at a cat

that's, you know, five bucks for a Stem

501

kit and you go

and you buy a $200,000 Ferrari.

502

Well, that's

still we get a little bit of that money.

503

So it does help support the shop.

504

Anyway,

user friendly dot show is the place to go.

505

All right.

506

So we're going to be doing two things

in this segment later in the segment.

507

Kay Thompson,

one of our reporters had an opportunity

508

to try out for Wheel of Fortune,

a game show that was kind of cool.

509

And she talks about that

a little bit and gives us

510

an update on our books and things.

So that's coming up.

511

But first I want to talk more about books.

512

We've had a lot of questions.

513

Come in, Gretchen, for you on Cyber Hawk.

514

I hear you're doing well in Australia.

515

Hello to our Australian listeners.

516

I think that's kind of cool.

517

Yeah.

518

I mean, your books, even on eBay

for like twice as much as the retail price

519

and they're selling it,

you know, so it's like, that's cool.

520

So what do you think about all this?

521

You're actually a published author now

and you're selling your books.

522

I mean, that's got to be cool.

523

It is cool.

524

And at moments I find it hard to believe.

525

So anyway, you know,

and we're working through a lot of this,

526

we're going to get to the listener

questions here just in a second.

527

But boy, has this been a process.

528

I mean,

I think we've all learned a lot from it.

529

We're still correcting

some formatting problems.

530

So if you buy the book right now

the text is great, but it's getting me

531

sorry,

532

I want to get it done,

but just weird things

533

you don't want to look for new to this.

534

So that's how you learn and you know.

535

But the feedback we're getting

has been great.

536

So let's go ahead and talk about some of

the feedback that we've been getting.

537

And Gretchen,

I've got a few hot questions for you here.

538

If you're up for taking them. Okeydoke.

539

So let's start with the first one.

540

When you were talking about Cyber Hawk,

it sounded like you had a life event

541

or something that gave you

the idea. Is that true?

542

And if so, what was it?

543

Okay, well, the life event

was actually, Bill, our host,

544

getting a job

545

with a robotics company

where he did programing with them,

546

and he talked about the equipment

547

and what it did and the three of us, Bill,

Jeremy and myself,

548

we thought, wouldn't

that make a really cool comic book?

549

So that's what inspired us,

and specifically me too,

550

since I was the writer of the group,

to start working on this idea.

551

And I think I think that's cool.

552

And for anybody that hasn't bought

the book yet, number one, why haven't you?

553

And number two, if you have,

you might notice this is not a comic book.

554

And we're going to talk about that

in a minute here.

555

Our next question that came in

Cyber Hawk feels very cinematic.

556

Did you picture it as a movie or series

while writing?

557

Yeah, actually,

whenever I write stories, it's

558

like it is a movie that

plays out in my head and,

559

you know, sometimes the characters do

560

the unexpected things and it's like, oh,

okay, we need to go down that path.

561

So yes, I do see it visually in my head.

562

Our next one.

563

Were any of the characters

besides major bluster

564

inspired by real people in your life?

565

Okay.

566

Major bluster.

567

Okay.

568

Some of the characters, are inspired

by some real people, and,

569

some of them are kind of like,

570

well, what would Bill be like

if I could give him a character?

571

And, I did that with a couple of people,

and it's not like it

572

that the characters are them,

but it's me imagining them

573

pretending to be actors or being actors

574

and pretending to be the characters.

575

All right,

that key elements feel very believable.

576

How much research

went into the futuristic aspects?

577

And this is a good question,

because if you don't do this right,

578

it sounds fake.

579

And the feedback we've been getting

580

is that

you've kind of hit this nail on the head.

581

So let's talk a little bit about that.

582

So I do have a long background

with technology.

583

I'm not a programmer or an engineer, but,

584

I, worked as a geological draftsman.

585

And that meant that I use the computer

586

and a digitizer to help create maps.

587

Then I also did web design,

588

and then I had a short time where,

I worked with some really amazing people,

589

and we had a small software company,

and we also did it support.

590

So I saw a lot of things

happening in technology.

591

And then when we started doing the show,

592

I did the research to,

593

get the news items

after Jeremy passed away.

594

And so I was exposed to looking

at a lot of articles

595

about how science and technology could be

596

or will be changing people's lives.

597

So I have a

an idea of, well, this is possible.

598

Maybe that will be possible someday.

599

So I think that might be the best way

to describe how how much research.

600

And when I come across a topic

that is beyond me, like,

601

in the

602

future,

you might see one of my characters acting.

603

I know of a person who understands

hacking, and I asked them for

604

some basic ideas of what is the procedure

without causing too much trouble.

605

You know what I mean? Right?

606

Right. You know.

607

Yeah, this is one of the things

that is a big deal.

608

And I know your book has been covered

in Detroit Free Press and some other

609

pretty decent publications, and

that's something that's been talked about.

610

Now, Bill,

you read, of course, and so do I.

611

When you run into a story

where the tech just seems

612

totally out there,

does that take away from the book?

613

Or you usually

it depends on the suspension of disbelief,

614

possibly inside that world.

615

Yeah. Really?

616

Yeah.

617

Like in Star Wars you can

you can have fun.

618

And I think that's a good point.

619

You know, kind of

comes down to what you're doing now.

620

Your book is set more or less real world.

621

So you would have

I have to be careful now.

622

All right.

623

Well on the feet of that,

what was the biggest challenge

624

you faced while writing Wise barrels?

625

The biggest challenge?

626

Well, we originally wanted to make it as,

a comic book,

627

so I thought, okay, if it's a comic book,

628

then I don't have to describe events,

I need pictures.

629

And I started trying to write it

like a screenplay.

630

And I've never written a screenplay.

631

I have no training on,

632

and I was having a real hard time,

633

being able to make the story go forward.

634

And luckily,

I have a friend who has extensive

635

understanding

in the entertainment industry

636

as a director,

a creator, producer and a writer.

637

And he's like, no, you're

supposed to write that is a novel first,

638

and then comes the comic book.

639

And I'm like,

oh gosh, we've been doing it wrong.

640

So I had to change what I started

and try and figure out

641

how to build an outline from what

I had begun, and it made it difficult.

642

And that's the reason why we have

the origin story,

643

was because it was taking me too long

to figure out how to fix Rise of Heroes.

644

The origin story is a novelette,

as I'm saying that.

645

Right?

That came out about a year and a half ago.

646

Now, we'll just kind of give

some background on who the characters are

647

and that type of thing.

648

And, was a good starting point.

649

So, yeah, I see where coming from.

650

And there is a huge difference

651

between writing a novel and a screenplay

and a comic book and whatever.

652

Oh, yeah.

653

I mean, just

they're completely different beasts.

654

Oh, yeah.

655

Oh, I can see

I can see where that would have been.

656

An interesting start to have to change

from the other question that came here.

657

I'm not sure quite how this leaked out,

but I heard there was a theme song.

658

Is there one and how do I find it?

659

Yes, there is one and feel you know

660

more of the information on how to find it

and who did it.

661

Right? Right now you can't.

662

Oh, okay.

663

It is quite question here.

664

That reminds me

I because I got to take care of it.

665

This is going to be on Amazon Music.

666

That's where you're going to be able

to get it.

667

And what I'm going to do

668

is get back on that

and get that back on the top of my list.

669

And then we'll announce here

how to find it.

670

I put a link on the website

as well as soon as it's available.

671

So you're just going to have to remain

in suspense on that one a little bit.

672

Good song. We'll talk about the origin

of it too, when it's out.

673

All right.

674

Listener or listeners

that are just discovering the series,

675

what makes Cyber Hawks

stand out from other superhero stories?

676

And we've gotten a number of variants

on this questions.

677

That kind of is a summary. Okay.

678

How is it different from all the others?

679

Well, superheroes and a lot of the other,

stuff that I've come across,

680

they don't work with the firemen,

they don't work

681

with the policemen,

they don't work with the ambulance people.

682

They just, solve the problem themselves.

683

And sometimes, like, even,

like with Batman,

684

Batman's

dealing with incompetent cops, okay?

685

Or crooked cops.

686

And he's lucky

that he has Commissioner Gordon.

687

Okay to work with.

688

But in my stories,

my superheroes are regular people

689

that are working with emergency

responders.

690

They're. They're like a partner.

691

Now. So it's more like a

692

if I'm understanding that correctly,

where it's a mash of things,

693

instead of trying to say,

oh, our first responders are really good.

694

So now we need superheroes.

695

If I'm understanding what you just said.

696

Yeah.

697

It's like they they compliment each other.

698

The superhero,

the cyber hawks are there to assist

699

the emergency responders

and make their job easier.

700

All right, so another one now,

you talked about the comic book thing.

701

Did the story change

702

significantly from your original outline

while you were writing?

703

Yeah, I was, because of the,

704

lot of the comic book change.

705

Yeah. It did.

706

Well, yeah, I can see where, you know,

where that would go from that type

707

of thing.

708

And another one,

another time that we have left here.

709

Are you planning any more books?

710

I'm working on the next one right now.

711

Okay. And what's it called, if I may ask?

712

Unveiled villains.

713

Because you got to know

who the bad guys are.

714

Yeah, you do,

and you got to have some bad guys.

715

Whenever you get good bye, guys,

you get bad guys.

716

The thing is to be the case

in the real world,

717

who sometimes

a little more than we'd like.

718

We'll. We'll get back with you on that.

719

Let's go to our interview with Kay

and find out about Wheel of Fortune.

720

Joining us now,

721

Kay Thompson, author and other things

that we're going to talk about today.

722

Welcome to User Friendly.

723

Thank you very much for having me again.

724

So I want to get into your status

on your books.

725

We've talked.

726

It's been a while since we've talked about

where you are with with your stuff.

727

I know you got another book published,

but before that, I want to talk about

728

something else that you mentioned to me

that is kind of cool and unique.

729

And that's it.

730

You either got on or got an interview

to get on.

731

Wheel of Fortune.

732

Yeah, yeah.

733

So I was I was super excited about getting

that interview for, we were fortunate.

734

It was, kind of a surprise, actually.

735

So normally

I watch Wheel of Fortune with my family,

736

and they suggested

I try it out, and I have tried out,

737

doing, like,

738

application online.

739

And so, to get the interview,

I was just really, like, excited about it.

740

And, so the process was,

741

so the interview happened.

742

It's been a while since it happened, but,

743

so what happened was they

they have an interview

744

with a whole bunch of, like, there

was, like, only four of us, I believe.

745

So for, interviewees and,

746

there was like, three other guys

that were interviewing the same time

747

I was and, they were asking us

a bunch of questions about,

748

you know, what our hobbies were,

what kind of theme?

749

We would like on our, on our if we were

to be on the show and everything.

750

So we each gave our answers, and,

751

so I anticipated,

752

not getting a response for a while

because it's like an interview.

753

Like I.

754

But from

my understanding, because they don't

755

really go into a whole lot of like

if we get selected,

756

they did say that we were to, get like,

hear, hear back.

757

So they wanted us to practice

after the interview and everything, just,

758

but so far

I haven't heard anything back from them,

759

and it's been a while, so I assume that

they didn't really care for my answers.

760

But, I did find out that

there was one lady

761

that it took her years to actually

get accepted to be on the show.

762

So the first interview was very exciting.

763

Like, you know, it's a very good

accomplishment to get the first interview,

764

but it is still kind of better than

765

it sounds like.

766

It's a thing that takes some patience,

767

but you're an author,

so you're used to that anyway.

768

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

769

You know, I, I kind of have to be,

but yeah, it's my first time.

770

So it gave me a

little bit of practice. But,

771

but yeah.

772

So my understanding

is that they hold on to those applications

773

and those interview questions and stuff

for a while before they actually like,

774

you know, disregard it and stuff,

and then you have to reapply.

775

So for my understanding.

776

But, you know,

it's still a learning process.

777

But it's, it's an honor

just to be, you know, interviewed,

778

you know, for the first time, question

without a question.

779

You know, I don't know if not hearing

back yet, it means that you were declined.

780

It would seem like on something like that,

they'd probably tell you.

781

But, you know, if somebody had to wait

years to get on, how did you even

782

I mean, how does somebody interview

if they want to

783

you go to a website

or do you have to be invited?

784

Yeah.

785

You go to the Wheel of fortune.com

website.

786

It has, you know, to be a contestant

if you have to go in there,

787

you have to fill out your name,

your information and stuff like that.

788

And then you,

789

you have to, submit, like a,

790

a video of yourself, you know, just like,

you know, introducing yourself.

791

What?

792

You know, because basically

every contestant that's on there,

793

you have to be able to tell a good story,

you know, a brief story,

794

good story about yourself and your life

and what you, you know,

795

and a lot of the times

they'll have you, like, when you pick out

796

a theme, you can actually pick out a theme

that's never been on the show before.

797

So because it's all about entertainment.

798

So. Right.

799

So you have to be somewhat entertaining,

but it's got to be like a brief

800

summary, like, you know,

very short summary because they only have

801

a certain air time. So,

802

you know, that makes it. Yeah.

803

If I allowed to ask

you what theme you requested.

804

I'm sorry.

805

What I said, am I allowed to ask you

what theme you requested?

806

Yeah.

807

So I, I don't foresee me,

getting on the show

808

because there's been no formal, but,

so I didn't really.

809

I told them I didn't have,

like, a specific theme at the time

810

because I, it was my first interview

and I was, like, kind of nerve wracking.

811

I was hearing all the other, you know,

contestants, answers and everything.

812

So a lot of their answers were like,

really good.

813

But, I was

814

I didn't really think about the theme,

really, because,

815

you know, again, being my first interview,

I didn't know what to expect.

816

But when they asked me that, I said,

817

I like the whole idea of a family week.

818

You know, two like you being on there

with another family member, but,

819

yeah, you have to do the interview

820

with the other family member

and like that. So,

821

Yeah, I just didn't really think that.

822

Well, about that whole,

you know, question there

823

because I like the idea of, of, of

824

I think I've seen that actually

where they've done stuff like that.

825

So it's yeah, you know, be cool.

826

Cool idea. Cool.

827

Well, listen,

you'll have to let us know, and

828

especially if you, get,

you know, get called back or even don't.

829

I think it's just kind of cool

830

that you were even able to be involved in

something like that.

831

And, you know, it sounds like it's fun,

and I can understand

832

why that would be a little nerve wracking,

especially you've never done it before.

833

But at least

834

if they don't like it the first time,

it sounds like you can apply again.

835

You know, you're not like,

yeah, walked out of it or something.

836

So, right.

837

That's cool. That is too cool.

838

All right. Let's talk about your books

a little bit. Where are you out with that?

839

Okay, so my first book has

840

been selling a little bit more on Amazon.

841

And then my second book

is still not quite, published on Amazon is

842

the publishing,

843

process is complete,

like all the editing and everything.

844

That's all good,

845

but I'm still making payments

on the publishing, so they, on

846

the publishing rights and stuff.

847

So that's not going to be, officially

848

on Amazon until after,

849

I finished making those payments.

850

But, the third book, I,

851

I've gotten quite a bit into it.

852

But I'm still it's

still a work in progress.

853

But, you know,

that's as far as I've gotten to it.

854

So, I mean, give us your,

give us your book titles that you would

855

because the first one you can order

now, it sounds like, so first,

856

yeah, the first one is the Dragon fantasy,

857

and then the second one is called

the Dragon Flame.

858

Okay.

859

And then, I got my third one

that I'm currently working on.

860

It's called the Dragon Siege.

861

Okay.

862

And then,

863

I'm going into, like, a fourth

one after that, it was just going to be

864

the Dragon Origins.

865

So I was sensing a theme here.

866

I think there might the dragons involved?

867

Yes. Yes, it's a it's a dragon story.

868

But, you know,

my dragons are a little bit,

869

you know, more, different.

870

Like they have take on human forms

and everything in my book.

871

So, you know, it's.

872

Yeah, a lot more action and stuff

as the story goes along.

873

So, it does take a little bit more time

874

because I have to really like

dive into the action part, which is.

875

Right. Yeah.

876

I, you know, I'm sure it

877

takes a lot of skill to write that too,

because I know

878

I have had some recent experience

with, book publishing.

879

I did not write a book.

880

I wish I could say that, but with,

881

our co-host Gretchen and her Cyber

Hawk series, and I've learned a lot

882

about what actually goes into this,

and we're writing

883

the book is actually

just a small part of it in some ways,

884

because you have to go through

all the other stuff.

885

Yeah.

886

Yeah, it's it can be kind of a challenge,

but I mean, I,

887

I ultimately like absolutely

888

just love like the world inside my book.

889

Although I will let everybody know

that, in my book,

890

even the first, book and the,

the second book,

891

there is going to be a map

of the inside of my world in my book.

892

Okay.

893

So you will be able to see what the world

inside my book looks like.

894

So, you know,

895

and speaking of such things,

I, I've seen the covers

896

of the first two and,

I think they're really cool.

897

What went into creating that?

898

So there's a lot of I into, creating that.

899

So my first book,

900

they basically kept the background

901

to my first Earth, first edition of it

and stuff, and I added the like,

902

I, you know, Dragon on the front.

903

My second book, it's the same thing,

but it just

904

each each of my books

is going to be a different color theme.

905

My, my second book is like,

you know, red background

906

and everything,

same, same landmarks and stuff.

907

But also the, second book has,

908

I use ChatGPT for that,

909

that, that main character

cover on the front and stuff.

910

So it was very interesting.

911

Were you

able to just type in a prompt and,

912

and spit out a cover,

or how did that work?

913

Because I know ChatGPT and the others

are great at creating artwork,

914

but usually it isn't quite that simple.

915

So I basically,

916

described what I was looking for.

917

Like the type of character

that I wanted her to be, like,

918

kind of grasping at her

heart a little bit, but kind of like

919

described her what she was wearing,

how she looked and everything.

920

And it took a couple tries to get it

exactly the way I wanted it to look like.

921

But once it, it

really, like, came together.

922

And you can only,

923

you can only ask them to redo it, like,

a few times in a day,

924

unless you actually pay

subscription for it.

925

But then you have to wait

until the next day to actually try it.

926

So, can you. Yeah. Yeah.

927

So it it turned out really well, I like

928

I at first my publishers, illustrator,

929

gave me some examples of what they,

930

you know, drew and everything,

and I just didn't like any of them.

931

They weren't,

you know, one was too cartoony.

932

The other one was like,

not even, like, very realistic.

933

I didn't really like the look of it.

934

It didn't really stand out to me.

935

But then I, of course,

the ChatGPT one was just like, awesome.

936

And it just stood out and stuff

and it kind of like

937

has the same type of,

938

artwork as, first book a little bit.

939

Right. So, yeah.

940

And that's, I'm excited about it.

941

Is your book illustrated

or how does how did that work?

942

So it is illustrated

943

a little bit,

but like I said, a lot of AI,

944

technology

has been used in the cover, and,

945

they could do a lot of illustrations

on the, the map inside the book.

946

That's the only thing that's illustrated

the rest is all text

947

and the, story and everything. So.

948

Okay. Yeah.

949

Oh. That's cool.

950

Well,

anything else you want to tell us about?

951

I just, I hope that all of

952

you wind up reading my book

and really get into it.

953

It is a very like,

954

exciting story.

955

And as the story goes along,

you know, it's going to be

956

my hope

is because after I get my, second book

957

fully on the market and everything,

I have a lady

958

that I'm going to be working with

to try to,

959

turn them into audiobooks,

but I have to wait until they're fully

960

both on the market

to be able to start that process.

961

Audiobooks. Yeah, yeah.

962

And I know there's

a lot of people out there that are like,

963

you know, not really big readers,

but they love listening to the audiobooks.

964

So stay tuned.

965

There are going to be audiobooks made.

966

You just need to be patient

a little bit with this process. So.

967

Oh, absolutely.

968

Absolutely.

969

And for our listeners out there,

the book, there's going to be a link to

970

where you can buy it, at user friendly

Dot show in the shop page,

971

and we'll have the first one up there now.

972

And as the other ones

come out, just check back there.

973

So it'll be a one link or so.

You don't have to write anything down.

974

Just remember

user friendly dot show and click on shop

975

and they can get your book

right from there.

976

Oh all right.

977

Well listen

thank you so much for joining us today.

978

And we'll get another update

979

when you get closer to the second book

actually being available.

980

Let's let's get you back again.

981

And talk about that.

982

Sounds good.

983

Thank you very much for having me.

984

Alrighty. As always, it's a pleasure.

985

And it's always happy

to have you here as a guest.

986

All right. Thanks, Johnson.

987

You know, author.

988

And again, check out the book at User

Friendly Dot show on our shop page

989

next week on User Friendly,

990

we are going to be talking about face

fake hardware or fake software.

991

That type of a thing.

So join us back here next week.

992

And until then this is User Friendly

2.0 keeping you safe on the cutting edge,

993

User Friendly 2.0.

994

Copyright 2013 to 2026

995

by User Friendly Media Group Incorporated.

996

All rights reserved.

997

The content is the opinion

of the show's participants

998

and does not necessarily

reflect this station or platform.

999

Requests for material use, interviews,

disclosures,

00:49:28,498 --> 00:49:31,468

and other correspondence may be viewed

00:49:31,468 --> 00:49:34,571

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