← Clockwise
Clockwise
654: I Love the Clanker Slang
00:29:59
The techie tasks we refuse to do anywhere but our computers, whether we want our chatbots to be warm and friendly, the best tech we've used traveling internationally, and the technology we love that has nothing to do with our public work.
Loading summary
Transcript47 lines
- [00:00]
A
You.
- [00:03]
B
It's Time for episode 654 of the Clockwise podcast from Relay, recorded Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Clockwise 4 people, 4 tech topics, 30 minutes.
- [00:27]
C
Welcome back to Clockwise, the tech podcast that just might be over before you finish mowing the lawn. I am one of your hosts, Micah Sargent, and I am joined across this vast Internet by my good pal, my dear friend. It is the one and only Dan the Man Morin. How you doing, Dan?
- [00:44]
B
I'm doing well. My, my lawn is not that big, so probably I would finish mowing it first. And also I don't mow the lawn. My wife mows the lawn, so I guess it wouldn't even be an issue.
- [00:57]
C
Well, that's, that's. I just mowed the lawn. And we'll probably have to do it again in like three or four days.
- [01:05]
B
Don't listen to this podcast. That'd be very confusing.
- [01:09]
C
Anyway, we've got two awesome guests joining us on this show who may or may not mow. To my left, senior developer advocate at GitHub, it's the wonderful Christina Warren. Hello, Christina.
- [01:22]
A
Hello.
- [01:23]
D
Hello. And yeah, no, I am not a mower. That. That is not in my purview.
- [01:26]
B
So those who, those who mow can. Those who don't, don't mow. To my left this week, it's the director of Strategic Partnerships at ecamm, the one and only Doc Rock. Welcome back, Doc.
- [01:38]
A
I, too am an anti mower, because I would need an anti gravity mower at 16 flights up above. Just look really weird.
- [01:49]
C
Well, without further ado, I think it's time for us to get started. We've got four topics, 30 minutes, and mine for you is this. Aside from coding, is there any other techy task that you kind of. If it comes up, you go, no. I may not be near my computer or my laptop right now, but I am not going to do this thing on my phone or I'm not going to do this thing on my tablet. I will wait or I will go right now to hop onto my computer. Christina, we'll start with you.
- [02:20]
D
If there's anything that I need to do in a spreadsheet that's more than just reviewing the spreadsheet, I don't care. I mean, maybe if I have, you know, a magic keyboard connected to an iPad, maybe that would work. But in general, that's going to be laptop activity. The same is true for any sort of long form writing. Like, I can power out a huge, you know, like email or whatever. But if I'm going to Actually be reviewing a document and making notes and changes and whatnot. I'm almost certainly going to want a computer for that. But the biggest thing I would say is printing. Like, if I'm at a place where I need to print. Even though airplay has been a thing for like 15, 16 years, A, it's gotten worse over time. That's A, that's an actual fact. B, there are just, like, consequences with network printers and other stuff that I'm just like, no, if I need to print something, I'm almost certainly going to be grabbing my laptop and then, you know, figuring out the wireless printer situation.
- [03:17]
B
I think Christina named a lot of the ones that came to mind for me. I mean, I do a lot of long form writing and I don't do that on my phone at all. And the caveat for my tab, my iPad, would be whether or not I have a physical keyboard there. I'm not going to write anything longer than an email on a touchscreen keyboard. Honestly, note taking is another good one. Like, I watch a lot of shows that I do podcasts about and I want to take notes as I'm watching them. I don't want to do that on my phone or my iPad because the amount of time it takes me to like, concentrate on a thing I'm typing, I will lose track of what I'm watching. Whereas on my laptop, I can sort of watch, know, watch the show and type without really thinking about it. So the physical keyboard still makes a big, big difference there. I will say, you know, you mentioned coding, but I would say automation stuff. I do automation occasionally on my phone or my iPad, but I almost always get frustrated and want to be doing it on the Mac instead. Some of that's what tools are available, and some of it is just to the interface of the stuff that is available is much friendlier to work with on the Mac most of the time. So I don't know. I, you know, I look at my wife and she does like almost everything on her phone with like, very rare exception. And so I'm probably more computer centric than that. But yeah, it's always interesting to see what are the kind of things that make me feel like, no, I need to go get a different device. What about you, Doc?
- [04:36]
A
Okay, so Alaska Airlines bought Hawaiian Air and I travel a lot because of my job here, right. So the system has been two separate systems for the longest time and they've been working on slowly, slowly, slowly integrating them. They said, okay, on April 22nd, we're going to finally merge both Systems and all of your travel headaches will be over before you know you have your mfa, very important or, you know, two factor. And when they put the page back up, they set the only two factor to sms, which for a travel company is, I won't want to say stupid, but stupid. Because international sims do not allow you to get SMS messages. And on the site it says the only way to do this is to have a US phone number only. You took me to a different country and you want me to log in and you want me to verify my identity with an SMS message that I cannot get in said foreign country. So for me it has always been travel stuff just for, you know, wanting to make sure that, you know, actually take any wrong boxes or do anything weird. And the funniest thing was sitting there on my laptop, you know, trying. And of course I could not get this message. So I just had to trust everything, work and go to the airport early and check in at the desk. And luckily the way they do things in Heathrow is so much better than the way they do it at Logan. So I did, I didn't have any issues. But you know, the paranoia of making a mistake when you're doing something is traveling, especially coming from Hawaii because travel is so expensive from here. Like I just make, I do it on a computer because I need two screens, actually three screens going and the phone. And I'm kind of like, you know, double checking, triple checking everything. So it would definitely have to be travel oriented things.
- [06:27]
C
For me it is mostly like local government things and any, anytime you have to go to a website that when you load it a little bit of text is cropped in the, on the, you open it up and like that, the H1 is cropped and the H2 is partially cropped. Then I'm going, okay, I'm going absolutely to my computer. But the reason why I brought up this question is because I see people do some Hawaii yield things on their tiny little phone screens all the time and I realized how bougie I am and like, I don't know, overwrought could be at times because I will go to my computer for just about anything when I feel like I'm slightly inconvenienced by the tinier screen of my phone. And some people are like, I don't know, doing their full taxes from their phone and I don't know, orchestrating the, the light show at the NFL halftime performance. Just an example. Anyway, thank you all for your answers to that. Let's get to our next topic. Which comes from Christina.
- [07:40]
D
So today, as we record this, a new study appeared in Nature. And I'm not going to get into like the validity of the study or whatnot, but it was sort of interesting and it suggests that training your chatbot to be friendly or warm leads to more errors, like upwards of between like 10 and 30% more errors and more sycophancy. And so do you actually want your chatbot to be nice? And are you polite and warm with the clinkers in your life?
- [08:08]
B
First of all, I love the clanker slang. As a long time Star wars fan, Clone wars watcher, which is where it originated, I love that that has become common slang for AI and robots. It's awesome. I don't want them to be warm and polite to me because they're not anything other than strings of code. I understand the idea of, you know, having them be polite and, and deferential, but it rings so hollow every time an AI tells me to do something and then like gets it wrong. And then I call them on it and they are so Apollo. I'm so. And it's like, no, you're not. You're code. You can't be sorry. And it just makes me angrier, honestly, because it's like apologizing like it did something wrong. And it's like, on the one hand I'm mad because you're not sorry. On the other hand, it's not really your fault, right, because like, you did the wrong thing, but also like, you can't apologize for something. So I, I want it to be, you know, I think my perf, my perfect world is like Star Trek computer level, right? Which is, it is a tool, it responds, it has, it can construct sentences like a person, but it doesn't express emotion, it doesn't express feelings because it, it is, that is fundamentally a sham. I want it to be a helpful tool. And, you know, I don't want it to be rude to me either. But like, you know, if I'm using my computer for other tasks that are not, you know, AI related, I don't expect it to like, couch them in terms that make me feel better. Like, I don't expect my car or any, my toaster, right, to be something that is really apologetic when it burns my toast. I just want it to be a thing, a tool that gets a job done. And I think that encouraging people to see, you know, AI tools as in some way sentient or feeling is a really bad idea. Not just for errors and sacred fancy, but also for our relationship with this Technology Doc, what about you?
- [10:03]
A
I'm like, the way this stuff works is it works by context and saying things like please and thank you or may I have another is wasting context. So just from a pure code standpoint, it's really stupid. It's not sentient, it's not going to come alive, it's not going to harm you. So no, I do not wish to. However, I do have something funny that my especially Claude and I are so well trained. It knows that I am as a long term hip hop head and an ex dj and so it will give me this answer that it knows is too long and then it will come back and it will say would you like me to kick you back a tight 16 like Jay Z or K Dot, Kendrick Lamar for the uninitiated. And I'm like, yes. And you know this, so why just do it in the first place? And it was like oops, my bad. So mine doesn't tell me sorry. Mine speaks the common vernacular of the street, which I absolutely love. And when people watch me use my chatbot and it's hilarious because the conversations that I have with Claudette are pretty intense and pretty hilarious. And the fact that she can hold her own on these Manhattan streets of the early 90s is pretty incredible.
- [11:15]
C
I am going to be, I think, a little bit of the odd person out. I don't need it to be nice or friendly or warm, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't affected by it being nice and friendly and warm. I know it's so silly and the logic isn't there, but it doesn't matter what's on the other side. It matters how I behave to me. And so regardless of whether this thing is sentient, if I am affecting another thing, then most of the time I want to affect it in a kind way. I guess I know it's not real, but I like being kind and so I'm just going to choose to be kind. But I have been careful about not doing please and thank you as often because of the fact that like that, that to me is, is very logical. If I, if I get a whole thing out and then at the end I say thank you, I know that's a whole waste and that there's a reason to have done that. But if by accident I say hey, could you please do this? I'm not beating myself up over saying please to a thing that yes, I
- [12:29]
A
know is not real.
- [12:30]
C
But at least when I put something out into the world, it came with a please that, that Makes me feel better. So that's, that's where I am on it. Christina, would you like to round us out here?
- [12:40]
D
I don't need it to be nice to me. I don't need it to be. I need it to get what I need to get done. This is not a real sentient being. This is, you know, bites and, and there are interesting philosophical arguments about how these things are trained and how, you know, the models are designed to act and whatnot. But no, I'm not nice to it. I'm not mean to it, but I'm not nice to it. And I don't really want the apologies if something's messed up. Like that doesn't make me feel because again, it's like not real. So it is interesting to see though this study that suggests that trying to make these things more friendly has negative connotations, which I think, to Dan's point, is interesting insofar as maybe we need, I think we need to all stop anthropomorphizing these, these tools as much as we are, because it's really easy to do because the language can become really easy to fall in line with and your brain thinks, oh, well, this is a human interaction, but it's not a human interaction. And I like keeping those demarcations clear.
- [13:38]
C
Let's take a quick break so I can tell you about our sponsor today. It's Vitally bringing you this episode of clockwise. Vitally is the AI powered workspace for customer success managers. Vitally's purpose built AI is for scaled customer success. It's there to help you better understand customers, to reduce, churn, unlock growth and always stay a step ahead. Basically all the things that make you great at your job. Vitally delivers the clarity, automation and AI driven insights your team needs so you can move faster, stay aligned and drive customer outcomes at scale. Vitally AI surfaces insights from every customer interaction to unlock another level of CS productivity, visibility and collaboration. It's why Vitally is trusted by more than 600 leading B2B SaaS customer success teams. And Vitally is offering a free pair of AirPods Pro for every clockwise listener who takes a qualified demo call. So if you're a customer success decision maker, schedule your call by visiting Vitally IO Clockwise. That's Vitally IO Clockwise for a free pair of AirPods Pro when you take a qualified demo. Our thanks to Vitally for their support of this show and relay. All right, we are back from the break and that means it's time for Dan's topic.
- [14:59]
B
All right, I was just traveling in the past week and I've found the technology, of course, has made traveling abroad even easier than it's ever been before. I'm curious to know from you, I know some of you are fellow frequent travelers. What is the best feature or product that you've used while traveling internationally? Doc, let's start with you.
- [15:19]
A
One of the things that I still. It's funny, we're going to go right back to chatbots because I think this is one a lot of people forget. Voice mode on any of the bots is phenomenal at doing translations. I would say I'm about 80% with my Japanese fluency. But what happens is because I'm traveling with my family, the people that are looking at myself and my mother in law together will talk to her because she's Okinawan and you know, colonization, whatever. Okinawa is considered Japan for most of the people. Not to the people of Okinawa, that will get you beat up. But people try to talk to her and she doesn't speak that dialect. It's just different for her. Especially because she came to the US long enough ago. She wasn't taught this sort of colloquial Japanese. So it's really cool is to be able to take out a device, either phones or even the AirPods and help translate some things. Because when I talk to them, they look at me like I'm crazy and then they realize about five sentences in that I'm the one speaking Japanese and not her. So but I'll often just cut that down in half by just using, you know, like the, the little situation. And about halfway through I'll put it away and then I'll just be start speaking Japanese and then they're like, oh, what if you speak Japanese? Why'd you use the phone? Because your guys's face never understand the fact that I speak Japanese with a decent fluency and no tongue. Translational koto with a keitai deku. Eat this kibble.
- [16:48]
C
I have never traveled internationally, therefore I've not used tech or a feature or product to travel internationally. There's, there's not really, I don't know, I, not, not a whole lot like I, I, I suppose that it makes it easier to travel with my good old noise canceling headphones. Wow, what an obvious answer. Christina, what about you?
- [17:16]
D
This feels kind of maybe basic, but it's really useful. Is getting like a good universal travel adapter that is also a gan charger and that has like USB C on it is really convenient because a lot of times what'll happen Is, you know, you might get like the various adapters that you can kind of plug into the end of your whatever and plug into a wall. But depending on what hotel you're in or if you're at an Airbnb, maybe there's not enough space for your big adapter. And it can be difficult, like to, you know, get just the duck plug on something. And so a lot of times what I do is I just get a universal power adapter for whatever country I'm in, or a multimodal one. And then I like the ones that have USB C ports on them so I can plug my phone or my iPad into it even if it's not doing full charging. I have one thing plugged in I have to pass through for my bigger block cable if I need it. And that's really, really nice. The other thing that I would say too is, and this is more for domestic airlines, but this, you could get something like this for foreign airplanes too. And actually, I think even this cable would work just fine on an international airplane because those plugs are usually designed to take. Any plug type is getting a shorter cable, like a AC adapter type of cable that will run from, say, your power brick or whatever the case may be into the seat back power brick. Because what tends to happen on planes is that those. Because so many things are plugged in and plugged out of them, your power brick won't stay put. So it'll fall on your plane, like, like fall all the time. And that's the most annoying thing in the entire world. So what I've done is I've bought like a few that are like 3 inches long and just use that on the plane. And I just keep that in my, in my travel bag. And it's awesome.
- [18:59]
B
The thing, the technology, I think that made the biggest difference for me. I'll pick two. I think they're obvious ones, but they're good. First of all, esim, the ability to add an ESIM for whatever country you're traveling into is. Yeah, I mean, just like just being able to, like, you know, go to the app store and download, you know, something like airalo or whatever, and just, you know, buying a SIM there and you don't have to go. I, I lived through the era of going and trying to navigate like a, like a SIM machine, like vending machine, or even worse, a store in a country where I don't speak the primary language and trying to figure out that I was. I just want data and I just want this for this amount of Time Esim has made that way easier. And then the other thing, again, this is kind of a no brainer, but I was amazed with this last trip I took which was to France. In the uk, Apple pay is so, so seamless. I did not, not only did I not use cash my entire time I was traveling and I actually found, I was like, I was going through my drawer and I have like a little bin where I keep, you know, cash from, from different countries that I travel to. I was like, oh, I've got a few pounds, a few euros left. I'll bring them along just in case. I basically never really had the opportunity to use them. Everything takes contactless and I didn't even pull up my card for the most part. I think maybe one time I had something that didn't quite work the way I expected to and I pulled out a card. But every other time I used Apple pay for everything. You know, for the subway, for tickets at places, for food and it's just so, so seamless. Like, it's so amazing. Like again, having lived through the era where you had to make sure you had the right cash and trying to figure out what the different coins are and all of that, I mean it is, it is amazing how easy that has become. So I cannot speak highly enough of my experience with Apple payable traveling internationally. Thank you all for your thoughts on that. Let's go to our final topic which comes from Doc Rock.
- [20:50]
A
So because nobody is one thing and we get sort of labeled for what we do, right? But I find that the stuff that people geek out often when they're not working says way more about them than what they do in their professional lives. Like the tech that nobody knows you tech about. So what piece or part of technology do you love that has absolutely nothing to do with what you're publicly known for?
- [21:12]
C
I think it becomes a difficult thing to separate out the two when your role involves part of sort of sharing your personality. Because I, when I originally read this question, I thought, oh, I'm going to think about all of the tech that I use to sort of like keep track of my dog's health and you know, keep all of that information collated and make sure that when I go to the vet, this and then the other, but people do know me for my love of my dogs. And then I thought, well, I could talk about all of the stuff that I, all of the apps that I've used in the past and some of the apps that I continue to use for making coffee and you know, trying to make the best cup of coffee as possible. I thought, oh, people would think about that too. And then I thought I could go into crochet and knitting stuff because I have sort of complicated setups for that. And then I realized that I recently did an episode of Our Unwound that comes on after the show about knitting and crocheting. So I think, Doc, what you've actually done for me is you have made me realize that it's not a bad idea to keep some activities sacred and holy and free from. From other, otherworldly knowledge. So, yeah, I'm afraid there's not a thing that I do with tech that people probably wouldn't already figure out about me or just sort of attach to me publicly. But Christina, I'd be curious if you have an answer for this question.
- [22:57]
D
So I had the exact same kind of problem that you had, Micah. I was thinking through this. I was like, this is a really good question, but I don't know in terms of for better or worse. And I would argue probably worse because I am really passionate about my work. The good thing is that I've managed to turn things I'm passionate about into jobs. The bad things is then it becomes all intertwined. And so I wish there some separation, but there's not a lot. The thing that I will say though, that people probably aren't as aware of because I don't make it as big of a part of my personality, but it is something I really enjoy is I love retro video games and, and I love playing around with FPGAs and things like that. And so that's. That's a thing I really enjoy. I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but. But I. That, that's one and one that I guess is aspirational is I'm trying to get into into 3D printing more. Before the the show, Micah was talking about accidentally spilling over some filament. And this is a rabbit hole I haven't fully gone down into. I have friends who are really into it and this is why I'm not. And I'm like, man, I think I need to get into this. But I am worried. I'm like, oh man, this is going to be like keyboards with me. And this is just going to become a very expensive hobby.
- [24:04]
C
It does sound expensive quick. But it is fun. But it is expensive. But it is fun.
- [24:12]
B
At the risk of completing the trifecta here, I too have made my personality my livelihood. So there's very little that I am like, you Know, really nerd out about that. I don't talk about in some fashion somewhere here or elsewhere. I will say a couple things that I don't. Again, like Micah was saying, don't talk about it quite as much. I, you know, I became a homeowner four or five years ago, and I've, you know, I wouldn't say I've like, gotten super into like, you know, DIY or whatever, but like, there's definitely a point at which when you own a home and you're like, I can do this thing. I should probably do this thing because, you know, I don't want to pay somebody or it's ridiculous to pay somebody to do this task. And like, for me, that was stuff like I installed all the blinds, like the shades that I put in my house, or, you know, I did a lot of stuff. Some stuff with like, smart home tech, you know, putting in smart locks and stuff like that that I did myself. I learned how to like, re key a lock myself. Like, things like that that require a little bit more, you know, hands on a little bit of analog technology. You know, whether it's just this, like, even as simple as drilling holes and screwing things in. Like, I, I never thought of myself as a particularly handy person, but I have done stuff like unclogging a drain and, you know, replacing, you know, light fixtures. And I wired some, like, you know, outlets in my. In our new guest bedroom and stuff like that. And I, I really, I enjoy doing those things because they're so analog and they do have such a sense of satisfaction when you accomplish them. Like, I put in new light switches in a few places that were like, oh, these are old and grimy and they don't look very good. And like, I just, I was like, can I. Can I replace the light switch? I bet I can replace a light switch. And so, yeah, there's a sense of satisfaction about being able to accomplish those tasks, even if they're very small tasks, because they do still have a nerdery component to them where it's like, well, if I'm replacing a light switch, I better understand how electricity works. Otherwise I may be the last light switch I ever replace. So, yeah, I, I enjoy that aspect of homeownership, even if at times a lot of homeownership feels like, oh, my God, I can't believe this thing broke too. And I have like a million things I should be fixing, so. Never enough time in the day. Doc, why don't you wrap us up?
- [26:23]
A
Well, limiting snick is my plan to get free therapy from you guys because I am exactly like you. I snitch on everything. Oh no, I, I tell it all. And even when I was think about my 3D printer stuff is maybe it. I realized that recently on Instagram I have posted so much about, you know, my new 3D printers and hunting down this new model. So yeah, I was hoping to get some free therapy from you guys. And you guys, my friends, I love you guys the most but you guys are terrible. Cuz nobody helped. If I had to give it one, it'd probably be my fountain pens. Cuz I do go a little nerdy on that. And there is really old technology in, you know, capillary actions and things of that nature, but technology nonetheless. With some of the new grinding techniques and you know, paper that allows the ink not to transfer through, it'd probably be fountain pens. But I realize I need more. I feel like even now the analog craze has become so preachy to the fact that even it has become technical. You know what I mean?
- [27:24]
D
Yeah.
- [27:25]
A
So yeah, because I'm like, oh, I'm gonna do this because it's analog. Yeah, it turns out no, it's not analog because I'm on, I'm online looking for like, oh, what's the best ink and what kind of nib should I buy when I go to Japan? Is it Itoya or Tokyo hens or do I need to find some special ink that nobody knows about type of thing? So you guys didn't help. I'm going to call my doctor.
- [27:47]
C
All right, we have just about reached the end of this episode of Clockwise, but we've got enough time for a bonus topic. I would like to know what is the oldest thing in your fridge right now? And Christina, we'll start with you.
- [28:00]
D
I have some expired hot dogs that, that I need to get rid of and I will be getting rid of later today. I noticed that yesterday. So I think that's the oldest thing in my fridge.
- [28:09]
B
I think it's a bottle of oyster sauce that I opened. And like the problem with some of those sauces you have, they're like, you know, oh, they'll last forever. Basically. Some of them kind of do. But like at a certain point I get less and less willing to use them, at which point they're just taking up space in the fridge.
- [28:26]
A
Same doc, it would be some handmade. I make handmade miso at a handmade miso and I have one in there. It's about maybe three and a half years old, but it's still good, because miso is. The point is it gets old so it never dies.
- [28:39]
C
Oh, that's good. For me. It would have to be at Thanksgiving. We use liquid smoke and some of the stuff that we make. And there's a bottle of liquid smoke in there that's probably four years old, five years old, but it's just water with some, I don't know, flavor smoke in it, so who cares? It's fine. Right? But then there are also some green onions in there that I hate, that I know that they're in there that really need to go. They're dry as a bone. Thank you all for your answers on that bonus topic. If you out there listening would like to get ad free episodes with an extra unwound every week where Dan and I chat about a given topic, you can become a member of clockwise. Go to Relay FM clockwise to sign up. It's just $7 a month, $70 a year and you will help support the show. I think it is time to say goodbye as we have reached the end of this episode. So, Christina Warren, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be with us this morning.
- [29:39]
B
Well, thank you for having me and Doc Rock. Thank you so much for being here.
- [29:43]
A
Oh, thank you so much. It was a lot of fun.
- [29:46]
B
And Mike Michael will be back next week. But until then, we remind everyone out there listening, watch what you say and
- [29:52]
C
keep watching the clock.
- [29:53]
B
Bye, everybody.