Why Do I Need an App to Heat My Coffee?

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "Why Do I Need an App to Heat My Coffee?"

Date: February 24, 2026 | Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the frustrations of daily modern life—especially the unnecessary complexity of technology and social boundaries. The main theme circles around the seemingly simple act of reheating coffee, which unveils broader commentary on poor user interfaces (UIs), the constant push towards app dependency, and the ever-more insistent demands for personal data. The co-hosts also share a candid and humorous exchange about unsolicited comments toward pregnant women, exploring questions of etiquette, boundaries, and the strangeness that comes with certain life stages.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Absurdity of Needing an App for Everything

• Trigger: Joe is frustrated with his new, high-tech microwave that practically requires a smartphone app for basic functions.
• UI (User Interface) Woes: He explores how engineers often fail to think like everyday users, leading to overly complicated devices.
• Data Grab Suspicions: The group discusses how many "app required" gadgets are really about harvesting user data rather than improving convenience.

"Why do I need an app to heat up my coffee? It's one more thing."
– Joe (02:36)

"Isn't that obviously a data grab? ...I'm sure the agreement when I click on I agree is and we get to look at every keystroke on everything you ever do for the rest of your life so that you can heat up your coffee from your phone."
– Joe (11:00)

Notable Segment:

• Timestamps: [09:00] – [15:33]
• Joe recounts his microwave ordeal, bemoans the lack of intuitive design, and rails against unnecessary features and "smart" devices that are anything but.

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2. Etiquette Minefields: Pregnancy and Unsolicited Comments

• Katie's Gym Story: Katie recounts a cringeworthy incident at her gym, where an acquaintance made highly personal and public comments on her pregnant body.
• Boundaries and Gender: Joe and others question if these types of remarks are common among women, concluding they're out of bounds unless there's a close friendship.
• Advice: Let the pregnant person bring up such topics—don't be the one to comment.

"This chick the other day comes up to me and in front of the entire class goes, damn, Katie, your boobs look like they're about to explode."
– Katie (03:13)

"Just a PSA that if you know somebody pregnant and you don't know them that well, just shut up."
– Katie (04:41)

Notable Segment:

• Timestamps: [02:52] – [06:27]
• Discussion of boundaries, the awkwardness with family present, and the universal lesson: mind your own business about people's bodies.

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3. The Nightmare of Device Manuals (and Companies Pushing You to Apps)

• Manuals Without Words: Joe laments new product manuals that are all pictures (to save money and avoid translation), making them unhelpful.
• QR Codes & Website Logins: Katie and others hate the shift to QR codes in place of comprehensive manuals, which force the user into the manufacturer's ecosystem.
• Ultimate Rebellion: Joe refuses to accept the premise: “I'm not gonna have a freaking app to heat something up for a minute... just not.”

"It's almost entirely pictures with no words. I guess that way they can send it to every country with one manual... but you can't figure out what's going on from the pictures..."
– Joe (14:41)

"The most frustrating things for me is when I go to a manual to try to figure out something and there's an effing QR code."
– Katie (15:33)

Notable Segment:

• Timestamps: [14:41] – [15:57]

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4. Data Collection and the “Coupon Trap”

• Email AND Phone Number? The conversation moves to online shopping, where companies bait you with a discount but demand even more personal info—texts, emails, sometimes both.
• Betrayal & Refusal: Co-hosts agree it's deceptive, and they often abandon purchases when faced with this overreach.

"'Yep, we're almost there. Just give us your text number and you can have 20% off.' You motherfuckers. This is fraud. It's deception. You lied to me. Our relationship is over."
– Co-host (16:58)

"Joe. The amount of things I have not purchased because of that happening."
– Katie (17:50)

Notable Segment:

• Timestamps: [16:16] – [18:20]
• Mockery and hyperbole: The hosts joke about handing over their bank info, social security number, and even their mother’s maiden name for discounts—lampooning the absurdity of modern “deals.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the microwave UI:
  "This one... has so many different screens and knobs and things that you've got to do, to do, to do everything. And it's really annoying."
  – Joe (11:00)

• On etiquette:
  "I'm ready to diagnose a clear case of jackassity."
  – Co-host (04:11)

• On forced data entry:
  "Are there enough soft heads that go ahead and think, oh, for 20% off my first order, y' all have them text me for the rest of my natural life."
  – Co-host (18:06)

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Engaging Highlights by Timestamp

• 02:52 – 06:27: Gym etiquette, pregnancy, and boundaries.
• 09:00 – 15:33: The microwave rant: poor UI, forced app usage, manuals, and operator rage.
• 16:16 – 18:20: “Coupon trap” and refusing to give up needless personal info for discounts.

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Takeaways

• Everyday technology is getting more complex and less user-friendly, often intentionally pushing users towards data-collecting apps.
• Social boundaries, especially around pregnancy, remain surprisingly fraught—and people routinely cross lines they shouldn’t.
• Modern commerce is increasingly predicated on extracting as much personal information as possible, sometimes to the detriment of user trust and actual sales.

---

Summary:
The episode blends relatable annoyance with modern gadgets, sharp observations on etiquette, and comic rants about privacy-invading “deals,” all with the show’s signature sardonic, conversational tone. If you’ve ever yelled at a “smart” device or bristled at being asked for your phone number to save a few bucks, this one’s for you.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe]

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[Joe]

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[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Watch the full episode of their new AlphaNovela on soyunbanyo.com support for the show

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[Joe]

why do I need an app to heat up my coffee. It's one more thing.

[Katie]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Co-host or Guest]

One more thing.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

There's an app for that?

[Joe]

Of course there is. I was getting so angry at my new microwave last night. But before that, this.

[Katie]

Oh, just a little fun nugget. I. I go to the gym. I.

[Joe]

You're a little fun nugget, aren't you? Hey, hey.

[Katie]

Thank you so much. I'm trying to go to the gym as much as possible.

[Co-host or Guest]

Okay.

[Katie]

And the people that I work out with, I wouldn't consider them friends. They're. I. I see them daily, but they're acquaintances, you know, we would. We wouldn't make kind of, like, insulting jokes to each other. This chick the other day comes up to me and in front of the entire class goes, damn, Katie, your boobs look like they're about to explode.

[Co-host or Guest]

Wow.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Wow.

[Katie]

And I went, yeah, I'm aware. And then she doubled down and said, no, like, really? I'm having trouble making eye contact with you. They're just. They're. They're out of control.

[Joe]

Well, so what the hell?

[Katie]

I swear to all that is holy.

[Joe]

As a guy, I don't know. Is this the sort of thing that women ever say to each other? I don't know this.

[Co-host or Guest]

I mean, if you're good friends.

[Katie]

Yeah, but, I mean, I could see myself joking around if one of my friends was pregnant and that say, well, I can see the boobs are about to explode. One, because I've been there. Two, I'm close to you. But, I mean, for starters, my coach's jaw almost fell off of her face because it was loud enough for her to hear it. And my dad was standing, like, three feet to my left.

[Joe]

That's not cool.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'm like, that's a jackass right there. So I'm ready to diagnose a clear case of jackassity. Was she angry? Did she want you to do something about it? Sounds like she felt threatened.

[Katie]

I don't. I don't know. I'm. I'm trying to figure out what it is about being pregnant that makes people think, like, oh, I'm just going to say the dumbest thing that I can. I've been told that my beer belly is coming in nicely, so I don't know, I get hilarious. So, anyway, just a PSA that if you know somebody pregnant and you don't know them that well, just shut up.

[Joe]

Let them bring it up. Yes. It's going to come up at all.

[Katie]

Perfect.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah. Boy, I hate the idea of crossing boundaries. Like that. I'm just mortified by the very idea of it.

[Katie]

Yeah. And I, it. I reacted playfully because I'm not going to. I don't have the energy for that kind of drama. But it was, the back of my mind was going, what the fuck?

[Joe]

The dad being so close by is definitely an added level of uncomfortable because nobody wants that.

[Co-host or Guest]

No, see, I'm just the opposite. I, I'm extra sensitive and make sure that I don't say anything bad.

[Katie]

You know, I do too. But for some reason, man, you, you get pregnant and everybody's like, here I come with the comments.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, it's funny. I wouldn't worry about the dad thing so much. I mean, he's, he had the same look pregnant wife and raised a child

[Joe]

and the rest of it. I'm not talking about some dad's daughter's pregnant somebody's boobs in front of their dad. Well, I'm not gonna talk about them, period.

[Katie]

But yeah, my dad had this.

[Co-host or Guest]

They address you first.

[Joe]

What do you think of my boobs? For instance?

[Katie]

Hey, do these things. They're about to explode. Huh?

[Co-host or Guest]

You know, look how big they are. Okay, if I've got a. Yeah, yeah. Craziness.

[Joe]

So let's take away. We don't make any comments on to pregnant people about their pregnancies.

[Katie]

I mean, you can ask how they're doing and all that, but like how you do body comments. Yeah, I know. Everything's changing and it's crazy.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, yeah.

[Public Investing Advertiser]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities. Completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosure is available at public.com disclosures

[Podcast Host]

tired of spills and stains on your sofa? Wash away your worries with Anabe. Annabe is the only designer sofa that's machine washable inside and out. Starting at just $699 plus, Anabe sofas are pet friendly, stain resistant and feature changeable Slipcovers and modular pieces. Get up to 60% off site wide with a 30 day money back guarantee. Visit washablesofas.com to get yours. Now that's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

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[Joe]

quit on me a week ago and then I went through a whole weekend without a microwave and I didn't realize how much I used the microwave until I didn't have it. Just like reheat heating up a cup of coffee that's gone a little cold or whatever the heck it is and it's annoying not having a microwave. So I got a new one, did a little research on chat, GPT and whatever. Like that fancy microwave that Panasonic makes. It's a combo air fryer microwave thingy. It's supposed to be really great, but it did mention in all the reviews that while it is fantastic, it's got a bit of a learning curve on the the user interface. I am a big UI guy. I think that's one of the biggest deficits we've got in America right now. Man, if you're good at ui, urinary infection, user interface people who are in ui, I mean you can make a ton of money if you're good at it. Getting hired by Tesla or Apple or whoever it's this. We've, we've talked about this in the past with engineers, Joe and I have in the radio business. They talk in engineer speak and like computer experts, they talk in commuter. They don't talk away about like they can't look at things the way somebody who just sat down at this for the first time and has never looked at it. They don't have the ability to see it through that lens. People that are really good at UI can. That's one of the reasons Apple's so good. They must have really great. Maybe Steve Jobs was just a natural UI genius to understand how like a person who's never touched this before would think about it as opposed to having to go through. Anyway, so Panasonic did a horrible job on this microwave and I'm not good at this sort of thing to start with. But just this, it's just the menu on this thing to try to figure out just to like, I just want to heat up this coffee for 30 seconds. That should, that should, to me that should be intuitively you could walk up to it, have never seen it before in your life and figure it out. It should be designed that way. Yeah, you shouldn't need to read any instructions to heat something up for 30 seconds in my opinion.

[Co-host or Guest]

But yeah, clearly, because I've got similar devices and they don't have that problem. You got a little tab that says micro right? Or you know, you can just hit plus 30 and it starts.

[Joe]

This one had. Has so many different screens and knobs and things that you've got to do, to do, to do everything. And it's really annoying. But what it suggests is the app, you download the app and you do everything from your phone. And isn't that obviously a data grab? Isn't that the whole reason they want you to do it is that I'm sure the agreement when I click on I agree is and we get to look at every keystroke on everything you ever do for the rest of your life so that you can heat up your coffee from your phone.

[Co-host or Guest]

That's why Nest exists and ring exists. All of that stuff is a data grab.

[Katie]

So does this thing not have like a 30 second button?

[Joe]

I mean, no, no, it doesn't have any easy thing like that. And but the main thing was that I kept running into and I had my son come down because he's better at this sort of stuff. It's like, can you figure out how to turn this thing off and open the door? It wouldn't let you. Well, originally it wouldn't let you open the door like a lot of microwaves until. Until it's off because you don't want it open with microwaving your. Your body or. And I would get it started and I couldn't cook your nipples.

[Co-host or Guest]

Everybody knows I would get it started

[Joe]

and I couldn't figure out how to turn the damn thing off. You. Most microwaves, if you open the door, it turns it off.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Joe]

So that's how I would turn. That's why I turn off lots of microwave. I just set it to whatever, five minutes. When I think it's been long enough, I open the door and I take out my coffee and drink it.

[Katie]

I like to try to open it right before the buzzer goes off because

[Joe]

I hate the dings. That's one of the reasons that I do it that way. I don't like hearing all the things. But this thing. I couldn't. You couldn't open the door until it's timed out its entire thing. And I have had to keep unplugging it to get. To be able to get the door open. So I'd pull it out from the wall and unplug it so it'd be off so I could open the door.

[Katie]

This is not working.

[Co-host or Guest]

What's the return policy on this thing? Then you had to call your offspring down. How do I turn this off?

[Joe]

So he figured out some way. And I don't know how he did this. We're microwaving something to heat it up. And I was. I'm gonna unplug it to try it because it's been heat and running for a long time. I'm gonna plug. He said, no. I think if you do this. And he opened the door and it's still running. The microwave is still microwaving with the door open. I had to watch it. I unplugged it. That I probably have brain cancer now.

[Katie]

Is there something. There's got to be something wrong with it.

[Joe]

If that's something wrong with me, I'm sure it's operator error. But.

[Co-host or Guest]

Wow.

[Katie]

I've never heard of a microwave that continues to run with the door still running.

[Joe]

With the door open.

[Co-host or Guest]

There's something wrong.

[Joe]

I felt a tumor growing on my brain.

[Co-host or Guest]

Or was it doing another one of its functions?

[Joe]

That'd be a tumor, not a tuber. Huh?

[Co-host or Guest]

Like it was doing air fry.

[Joe]

It almost had to be set on convention. Or air fry. And I had it completely wrong. But.

[Co-host or Guest]

Or convection.

[Joe]

Is that what it is? Convection?

[Katie]

Or a convention?

[Co-host or Guest]

In case you want to meet your colleagues in the Oven. Yes.

[Joe]

I'm a. The reason I like Tesla and Apple. I think everything should be intuitive. It's obvious the way you do this. You just walk up to it. I've never looked at any instructions on Apple. I just, I can open the computer, I can do whatever I want, all that sort of stuff. But other products, man, they want you to read a book and go on YouTube and all kinds of things just to do the simplest tasks.

[Co-host or Guest]

Yeah, well. And lately I had high, high hopes that AI would take care of this. Maybe it will soon. But asking hey, I can't do this on my computer, how should I do it? And it'll say, oh, that's easy, just go to file, click on that, then open function and you click on file. There's no effing function anywhere.

[Joe]

Right.

[Co-host or Guest]

That was updated six years ago or six months ago or six minutes ago. But yeah, that it's impossible to get accurate up to date based on your operating system instructions.

[Joe]

Well, I broke out the manual, which I almost never do. I'm just a big. I'm a big. If I can't figure it out, I'm taking it back. I want it to be stupid simple, everything I use and most of that's why by Apple stuff. But I actually broke out the manual. And this has happened in recent times, I think, and I don't know exactly, it's. If it's to save money, it's almost entirely pictures with no words. I guess that way they can send it to every country with one manual without having to have English, German, French, Spanish, whatever. I guess it's cheaper, but you can't figure out what's going on from the pictures or they're trying to drive me to the app. They're hoping it's frustrating enough that I download the app and then bingo, then they've really made their money. They've made more money than I spent on the. Than the microwave, probably immediately when I download the app.

[Katie]

Almost certainly the most frustrating things for me is when I go to a manual to try to figure out something and there's an effing QR code.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest]

Oh yeah, yeah. They want you to go to the website because they don't want to print and distribute manuals, which I get it. I mean, economically speaking, it's no brainer. But I like the paper just age because you can, you can see it and open it and hold it forth.

[Joe]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's much better. And then sometimes a QR code takes you to a. You got a login thing because again, they want you dialed into their system. I'm not gonna have a freaking app to heat something up for a minute to eat up a Pop Tart. I'm just not. Oh, you know what?

[Co-host or Guest]

I was a similar topic. This could cause me to go on. Like, if I ever get diagnosed, God forbid, with a dread disease and I've only got a few weeks left, I'm going to go on a tour of vengeance a taking out my enemies. That's my plan anyway. It's good to have a plan. And one of the. One of the groups of people I will take out. This is a new thing you go on. What was I looking at the other day? I can't remember, is I do photography for fun. I'm getting pictures, like, blown up and put on the wall. And it's super common. Now give us your. Give us your email address and we'll give you 20% off your first order. And I think, oh, great, okay, cool. Yeah, I'll do that.

[Joe]

I'll.

[Co-host or Guest]

I'll give them my usual email address and, and that I use for this sort of thing. And no problem, I'll go and hunt down the coupon code. And you fill it out and they say, yep, we're almost there. Just give us your text number and you can have 20% off. You motherfuckers. This is fraud. It's deception. You lied to me. Our relationship is over. Says me, and I'm gone.

[Joe]

Yeah, I had a similar thing a couple of different times with online tests for things, health things, free online, and it looks like a legit site. You do the whole thing takes like 15 minutes. And then if you want your results, all you got to do is fill in, you know, give us your email and your venue and we'll send you the results. Screw you and your free online diagnostic. Whatever. I hate you. Yeah, I can understand. I'm going to come to their house, I'm going to fight you. I'm going to have you in a headlock, just pounding in the nose.

[Katie]

Joe. The amount. The amount of things I have not purchased because of that happening.

[Joe]

Oh, yeah. Screw you.

[Katie]

Oh, you got my email. That's enough.

[Joe]

Yeah, made an enemy for life. How do they not realize that? I think they probably will.

[Co-host or Guest]

Are there enough soft heads that go ahead and think, oh, for 20% off my first order, y' all have them text me for the rest of my natural life.

[Joe]

Here's my Social Security number, my blood type, and my address, my bank account,

[Co-host or Guest]

mom's maiden name, my first pet. What else do you need, man? 20% off. This is great.

[Katie]

Well, I guess that's it.

[Podcast Host]

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[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe]

Guaranteed Human.