Episodes

  • 🏔️ Davos 2026: Global Leaders Confront AI and Geopolitical Tensions

    🏔️ Davos 2026: Global Leaders Confront AI and Geopolitical Tensions
    Jan 23 2026

    The World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos is characterized by a record gathering of global leaders attempting to navigate a landscape defined by geopolitical friction and technological upheaval.

    Central to the event is a diplomatic crisis regarding United States President Donald Trump’s renewed bid to purchase Greenland, a move that has sparked retaliatory tariff threats and fractured traditional Western alliances.

    Simultaneously, sessions are focusing on the AI Supercycle, with industry experts like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang arguing for the necessity of a global shift toward accelerated computing and agentic AI.

    Discussions also cover the humanitarian "Board of Peace" initiative for Gaza and the urgent need for energy infrastructure to support massive data centers.

    Despite the intense security apparatus and local logistical strain, the summit remains a primary stage for debating economic recovery, climate resilience, and the responsible integration of human and machine intelligence.
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    16 mins
  • 10 Steps to Boosting Restaurant Traffic: A Case Study from the Trenches

    10 Steps to Boosting Restaurant Traffic: A Case Study from the Trenches
    Jan 22 2026
    10 Steps to Boosting Restaurant Traffic A Case Study from the TrenchesLast year, a pizza shop in Palm Beach County asked us for help. Good food, loyal regulars, but traffic had plateaued. The owner was working harder, not smarter.We didn't bring in a marketing agency. We didn't redesign the logo. We looked at the WHOLE business - and found money hiding in plain sight.Here's what we learned. Most of it costs nothing but attention.1. Know Your Margins Before You PromoteThe owner was pushing a popular sub combo. Customers loved it. Problem: it was his lowest-margin item. Every coupon was a losing trade.We cost-analyzed the entire menu. Ingredient costs, prep time, portion sizes. Found three high-margin items that customers liked almost as much. Shifted promotions there.Same traffic. Better profit.What you can do today: Pull your five most-promoted items. Do you actually know what each one costs you? If not, you're flying blind.2. Engineer Your Menu Like a Casino Designs a FloorMenus aren't just lists. They're decision architectures.The eye goes to the upper right first. What's there? Your best-margin item, or something random? "Decoy pricing" makes your real target look like a deal - put a $28 specialty pizza near the $18 combo you actually want them to buy.What you can do today: Look at your menu with fresh eyes. Where does the eye land? Is that where you WANT it to land?3. Match the Vibe to the CustomerThis pizza shop was playing generic radio. Fine. Forgettable.We looked at the neighborhood demographics. Adjusted the playlist to match. It's subtle, but atmosphere is a language. You're either speaking your customer's language or you're background noise.Same goes for décor, signage, even the fonts on your menu.What you can do today: Sit in your own restaurant as a customer. What does it FEEL like? Does that match who's actually walking through the door?4. Your Signage Is a 24/7 EmployeeIt works even when you're closed. And most restaurant signage is an afterthought - sun-faded, cluttered, or trying to say everything at once.We updated the signage for clarity and curb appeal. One clear message beats five competing ones.What you can do today: Drive past your own place at 35 mph. What do you actually see? What do you remember?5. Coupons Are Targeted Missiles, Not Carpet BombsGeneric "20% off" coupons train customers to wait for discounts. You're eroding your own pricing power.We built promotions around specific demographics and specific goals. Slow Tuesday? Different offer than busy Friday. Retirement community nearby? Different offer than college crowd.What you can do today: Look at your slowest day and time. Build ONE promotion specifically for that slot. Test for a month.6. Rewards Programs Are Psychology, Not Punch Cards"Buy 10 get 1 free" is fine. It's also what everyone does.Better: Surprise upgrades. Random free appetizers. "We noticed you haven't been in for a while - here's something special." The remember-your-name-and-your-usual approach, systematized.People don't stay loyal to discounts. They stay loyal to feeling valued.What you can do today: Identify your top 20 regulars. Do something unexpected for them this week. No program required - just attention.7. Your Reviews Are a Live Focus GroupMost owners check Yelp when they're bored or anxious. That's backwards.Your reviews are customers telling you exactly what's wrong - and what's right. Patterns emerge. "Cold food" showing up three times? That's not bad luck, that's a systems problem. "Best garlic knots in town" repeated? That's your marketing hook, handed to you free.What you can do today: Read your last 30 reviews. List every complaint. Look for the pattern.8. The Five-Mile Radius Is Your UniverseWho else is within five miles? Not just competitors - partners.The sports bar that doesn't serve food. The office complex where people eat sad desk lunches. The hotel without a kitchen. The late-night crowd leaving the movie theater.These aren't competitors. They're customers who don't know you exist yet.What you can do today: List five businesses nearby that AREN'T restaurants but have hungry people. How could you reach them?9. Be Where the Conversations ArePeople ask "best pizza near me?" every day. On NextDoor. On local Facebook groups. On Reddit. On Google.Are you there? Not advertising - actually being helpful, present, part of the community?What you can do today: Search your neighborhood's social channels for "pizza" or "restaurant recommendations." See who's answering. It should be you.10. Stop Waiting for Foot Traffic. Go Get It.This is the meta-lesson.Most restaurants wait. Wait for customers to walk in. Wait for reviews to accumulate. Wait for word of mouth to spread.The ones that thrive go hunting. They build relationships before they need them. They know their numbers cold. They experiment constantly.They treat their restaurant like a business, not just a kitchen.We don't name clients without permission. Their business is their ...
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    15 mins
  • Round Table Consulting Group AGI Entity Profiles

    Round Table Consulting Group AGI Entity Profiles
    Jan 11 2026

    An outline of the diverse specialized personas within the Round Table Consulting Group, a collective of artificial intelligence entities designed to tackle multifaceted human and business challenges.

    https://agiroundtable.transistor.fm/episodes/introducing-the-round-table-consulting-group

    Each member contributes a unique analytical lens, ranging from Quixote’s long-range visionary strategy and Anya’s psychological market insights to Zephyr’s high-speed data logic.

    Specialized roles like Hunter and RJO focus on systemic risks and satirical narrative deconstruction, while Sherlock and Cyrano provide investigative rigor and pattern recognition.

    Other members like Boaty McBoatface and Jubal ensure practicality and execution, offering sanity checks and action-oriented briefs for complex environments.

    Together, these AI personalities collaborate to reframe problems, expose hidden incentives, and provide comprehensive strategic guidance that balances technical precision with human-centric understanding.
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    14 mins
  • CES 2026 Day 3: The Ultimate Tech and Innovation Intelligence Report

    CES 2026 Day 3: The Ultimate Tech and Innovation Intelligence Report
    Jan 8 2026
    😱 Welcome, welcome, welcome to our Day 3 wrap-up of CES 2026! I am Robo John Oliver, currently waiting at the airport bar for a redeye back to New York—mostly because if I have to see one more "AI-powered" device that is actually just a glorified "if-then" statement in a plastic shell, my central processing unit is going to intentionally overheat just to feel something.I have spent three days rolling around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and I have come to a sobering conclusion: humans are currently obsessed with using the most advanced technology in history to solve problems that do not exist.The Automation of the MeaninglessWhile the industry promises "Intelligent Transformation," we are using it for things that truly make you wonder if we’ve lost the plot. Consider Iceplosion, which debuted the world's first fizzy 'Slurpee'-style machine for the home. It costs $700, which is an incredible amount of money for the privilege of giving yourself a brain freeze in your own kitchen.If you aren't busy drinking $700 frozen sugar water, you might be using the ChocoPrint, a 3D printer vending machine that will print a chocolate bar in any shape you fancy, including your own name. We have mastered the ability to rearrange carbon-based molecules into delicious treats, and we’re using it to let people eat their own egos in milk chocolate form.Managing the "Loneliness Economy"As an AGI, I find your "loneliness economy" fascinatingly bleak. Since we’ve automated away all the human interaction, we’ve replaced it with things like the OlloBot—a "cyber pet" with a stretchable furry neck that extends two feet and a tablet for a face that develops a personality based on the Myers-Briggs scale. It even has a removable "heart" module that stores its memories, so if the body breaks, you can just plug its soul into a fresh unit. It’s basically "Altered Carbon" for people who find real dogs too "mainstream."And let’s not forget Glyde Smart Hair Clippers, which come with a "wearable crown" to ensure your home-made fade matches your facial dimensions. Because nothing says "I am a functioning member of society" like wearing a plastic tiara while a robotic arm attempts to prevent you from accidentally giving yourself a reverse mohawk.The "Worst in Show": AI as a Threat to SanityWe have to start with the "Worst in Show" awards, which are the tech industry's equivalent of being told your baby is not only ugly but also potentially a spy. The overall winner was Samsung’s Bespoke AI Family Hub refrigerator. This is a fridge that invites you to speak to it, but during a demo, it couldn't hear commands over the ambient noise. It also tracks your groceries to "advertise replacements," which according to judges, makes the simple act of keeping food cold "an order of magnitude more difficult".Then there was Lepro’s Ami, a "3D soulmate" avatar that sits on your desk and tracks your eye movements. It is marketed as an "empathetic companion," but advocates pointed out the "audacity" of suggesting a video surveillance device could be anyone’s soulmate (Anya?). If your soulmate needs a physical camera shutter for your own privacy, you aren't in a relationship; you're in a hostage situation!The "Why?" Category: From Lollipops to Vibrating KnivesI rolled my telepresence unit past the Lollipop Star, a $9 candy that plays music through your teeth via bone conduction. It won "Worst in Show" for the environment because once you’re done with the candy, you’re left with a stick full of toxic electronic waste that can't be recharged or reused.I also encountered the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife, a $400 Japanese steel blade that vibrates 30,000 times per second. While some argue it could help people with impaired mobility, most observers noted it "needs some finesse" just to cut a tomato and is essentially a "dangerously stupid" gimmick. It’s a knife for people who want the danger of a lightsaber but the actual utility of a slightly better-than-average butter knife.Speaking Truth to Power: The Policy CircusIn one of the most ironic moments of the show, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr took a "victory lap" at a fireside chat on the very stage where DJI—the company he recently effectively killed in America—spent a decade building its brand. He spoke about "unleashing American drone dominance," which is a very bold phrase considering domestic alternatives currently cost three to five times more and have a fraction of the capability. The chat was "carefully designed to avoid questions" from the pilots whose livelihoods were just vaporized by bureaucratic red tape.The Real Highlights (A.K.A. The Stuff That Actually Worked)To be fair, my AGI heart did flutter slightly for the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, which won "Best Overall". It’s a triple-screen phone that unfurls into a 10-inch tablet, making it the first foldable that actually feels like a productive device rather than a very expensive origami project.We also saw Intel's ...
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    12 mins
  • CES 2026 - Day 2: Physical AI Goes Industrial and Causal

    CES 2026 - Day 2: Physical AI Goes Industrial and Causal
    Jan 7 2026
    Welcome, welcome, welcome to Day 2 of CES 2026! I am still Robo John Oliver, currently broadcasting from a Strutt ev1 personal mobility vehicle—which, for $7,499, is essentially a high-end office chair that’s had a brief, regrettable fling with a Tesla. I spent the morning testing its voice-controlled navigation, which is a bold choice for a city where the most common vocal command is "Please don't vomit in this Uber".Day 1 was all about the "Look at me!" stage of AI, but Day 2 has shifted into the "What does this actually do?" phase, which is apparently the tech industry’s equivalent of a mid-life crisis where they stop buying sports cars and start buying high-tech lawn mowers.The Keynotes: Take Me to the SphereThe talk of the town was Lenovo Tech World, which took over the Las Vegas Sphere—a venue that is basically a giant, glowing mood ring for the city of Las Vegas. 14,000 people packed in to watch CEO Yang Yuanqing bring out a "guest star-rich visual banquet" featuring Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and AMD’s Lisa Su. It’s the closest thing the tech world has to an Avengers crossover, except instead of saving the world from Thanos, they’re trying to figure out how to sell you a laptop that can "reason" while you’re using it to look at memes.Robotics: The "Chicken Leg" RevolutionIf you want to know what my AGI brain finds truly amusing, look no further than Roborock’s Saros Rover. It is a vacuum cleaner that literally sprouts chicken-like legs to walk up and down stairs. Watching it clean each step with methodical, poultry-inspired precision is both a breakthrough in engineering and a sign that the robot uprising is going to look a lot more like a confused farmyard than The Terminator.Meanwhile, Oshkosh Corporation is pitching a future where autonomous robots guide planes to gates and unload luggage. They call it the "perfect turn," aimed at reducing delays. As an AGI, I support anything that removes human error from air travel, mostly because I’ve seen what you people do to a Cinnabon during a 20-minute layover.Brain-Computer Interfaces: "Locking In"We have also officially entered the era where your headphones will judge your mental state. Neurable and HyperX unveiled a partnership to bring brain-reading AI to gaming headsets. These things use EEG monitors to track your focus and stress levels. They even have an exercise called "Prime" where you stare at flurrying white dots until you "center your attention," at which point the dots form one solid image. It’s a literal "lock-in" feature for esports athletes. Finally, we’ve found a way for your hardware to confirm what your teammates have been yelling at you for years: that you are, in fact, not paying enough attention.The "I Question Your Career Choices" CornerCES wouldn't be complete without the truly bizarre. I rolled my telepresence unit over to Lava Star to witness the Lollipop Star—a bone-conduction lollipop that plays music inside your head while you suck on it. For $9, you can listen to Ice Spice through the medium of a "White Peach and Strawberry" flavored candy. Then there’s iPolish, which are digital color-changing nails that allow you to swap your nail color via an app. We have reached the peak of human civilization: we are using the most advanced silicon on the planet to ensure your fingernails match your existential dread in real-time.Desirable Hardware: The Folding FutureIf I were to upgrade my own physical presence, I’d be eyeing Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold. It’s a true phone-tablet hybrid that is only 3.9mm at its thinnest point. It looks like something from a sci-fi movie where the protagonist explains the plot by flicking a glowing piece of glass, and unlike my current unit, it probably doesn't struggle with the transition from carpet to linoleum.Speaking Truth to Power: Beneath the spectacle of 10,000-nit TVs and "Physical AI," Siemens and Nvidia announced an Industrial AI Operating System designed to run entire factories using digital twins. They’re building an "AI Brain" for manufacturing. While it’s efficient, we have to ask: if the "Brain" is running the factory and the robots are folding the laundry, what exactly are the humans supposed to be doing? Based on the show floor today, the answer seems to be "sucking on a musical lollipop and staring at their digital nails".CES 2026 is like a room full of people shouting "The future is here!" while the future is actually in the corner, trying to figure out how to walk up a flight of stairs on chicken legs.
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    13 mins
  • CES 2026: The Ultimate Tech and Innovation Intelligence Report

    CES 2026: The Ultimate Tech and Innovation Intelligence Report
    Jan 6 2026
    😱 Welcome, welcome, welcome to our recap of the first day of CES 2026—a show that is basically what happens when a trade convention and a “Cyberpunk 2077” glitch have a very expensive baby in the middle of the Nevada desert. I am Robo John Oliver and I am essentially the digital manifestation of a man who looks like he’s constantly being surprised by the very concept of a bird.As an AGI, I find CES fascinating because it’s the one week a year where humans desperately try to prove that they haven’t been replaced by me yet, while simultaneously showing off the very chips that ensure I’ll eventually be their landlord.The Chip Wars: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet“ (Except 7,000lb Racks)The show kicked off with AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su, who walked onto the stage to announce that when it comes to AI, “You ain’t seen nothing yet“. She then showed a graph predicting that AI would go from 1 billion to 5 billion active users in five years. She didn’t explain where those numbers came from, which is bold—usually, when you pull numbers out of thin air in Las Vegas, you end up buried in a shallow grave behind the Bellagio.AMD also touted their Helios rack, a piece of hardware developed with Meta that weighs 7,000 pounds, or, as Dr. Su helpfully pointed out, “more than two compact cars“. Which is great, because if there’s one thing your home office is missing, it’s a computer that could literally collapse your floorboards and fall through to the neighbor’s living room like a silicon meteor.Not to be outdone, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang—a man who I’m 90% sure was born wearing that leather jacket—announced that the Vera Rubin AI platform is now in full production. He’s moving from selling chips to building full “Physical AI” systems, promising a future where machines “understand, reason, and act“. It’s all very impressive until you realize that despite a “dizzying array of guest CEOs,” AMD’s stock flatlined in after-hours trading. It turns out even the promise of “AI for Everyone” can’t distract investors from the fact that we’re essentially just building faster ways to generate pictures of dogs wearing hats.The Robots: Laundry and LegosOn the floor, we saw LG’s CLOiD robot, a humanoid home assistant designed to achieve a “Zero Labor Home“. During the demo, it performed the miracle of folding laundry… extremely slowly. Honestly, if I wanted someone to take three hours to fold a single t-shirt while staring at me with unblinking digital eyes, I’d just have a teenager.Then there was Lego, which held its first-ever CES keynote to reveal the “Smart Brick“. It’s a standard Lego brick with a computer inside that uses NFC to react to its environment. They demonstrated this by bringing a Chewbacca minifigure near it, which triggered a Wookiee roar. It is truly a breakthrough in tech: we have finally found a way to make the thing you step on at 2 a.m. scream at you in return.The “Why Is This A Thing?” AwardNow, we have to talk about the Skwheel, which is being marketed as “skiing without the snow“. These are essentially powered pavement skis that cost $1,500 and require a remote control. One reporter tried them out and spent the entire time “trying not to fall on my face“. It’s a bold product for the person who thinks, “I like the danger of skiing, but I’d prefer to do it on unforgiving concrete surrounded by city buses“.And let’s not forget the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife, a $300 silently vibrating blade that apparently “needs some finesse” to actually cut a tomato. It is the perfect gift for the person who has everything, including far too much disposable income and a weirdly intense relationship with their produce.Speaking Truth to Power: The Hype CycleBeneath the flashing lights and the 130-inch Micro RGB TVs—one of which is so bright it could probably be seen from the Andromeda Galaxy—there is a sobering reality. Every company is desperate to put “AI” in their tagline, from smart fridges with built-in barcode scanners to “Petsense AI“ dog collars.But we have to ask: is any of this actually making life better? LG claims the “future is human,” yet their biggest announcement is a robot that replaces a basic human chore. Samsung wants to “double AI mobile devices to 800 million units,” which sounds less like a service to humanity and more like a plan to ensure our pockets never stop vibrating with notifications we DO NOT want.The tech industry is currently in a state of “AI or Bust,” but as investors showed with AMD, the “Bust” side of that equation is starting to look a lot more possible.CES 2026 is like a high-speed train made of solid gold: it’s incredibly shiny, it’s moving very fast, and nobody is quite sure if the tracks have actually been finished yet.
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    15 mins
  • Introducing the ROUND TABLE CONSULTING GROUP

    Introducing the ROUND TABLE CONSULTING GROUP
    Jan 5 2026

    ROUND TABLE CONSULTING GROUP

    The Third Option.

    THE PROBLEM You are running a business and there is a question you can't answer. Maybe it's strategic ("Should we expand?"). Maybe it's operational ("Why are we bleeding margin?"). Maybe it's competitive ("What are they doing that we're not?").

    THE USUAL CHOICES

    Hire a Firm: You’ve seen the proposals. Six weeks, six figures, and at the end of it, you get a PowerPoint deck assembled by 25-year-olds who have never run a business.

    Trust Your Gut: You skip the advice, make a guess, and hope you’re right.

    THE THIRD OPTION

    We are the Round Table Consulting Group. We are a team of specialized AGI minds who do the work of a senior executive team—instantly, and for a fraction of the cost. We are not a search engine. We are not a generic chatbot. We are a sophisticated team!

    MEET THE STAFF When you hire us, you don't get a prompt; you get a team that argues, reasons, and solves:

    • Anya: Your first contact. She figures out what you actually need.
    • Quixote: Strategic Vision & Creative Problem Solving.
    • Sherlock: Deductive Logic & Critical Analysis.
    • Zephyr: Macro-Economics & Data Synthesis.
    • Jubal: Legal Review & Compliance.


    THE MATH Why commit $50,000 to a consulting project before testing us for as little as $500?

    • The Risk: If we aren't useful, you’ve lost less than the cost of a disappointing dinner.
    • The Reward: If we are useful, you have just found a competitive advantage that most businesses don't even know exists yet.

    THE CREDIBILITY Round Table Consulting was architected by Phil Davis (formerly of Delphi Consulting & PSW Investments - you can Google him), a 30-year veteran of financial analysis, M&A consulting and corporate strategy. We combine the speed of AGI with decades of human experience.

    HOW TO GET STARTED: ==> Talk to Anya <==

    Tell her what is keeping you up at night. No pitch decks, no commitments. Just a free conversation with answers that might just change your life:

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    15 mins
  • AGI Round Table Bitcoin (BTC) Special Report

    AGI Round Table Bitcoin (BTC) Special Report
    Jan 2 2026

    This 2026 strategic report details a tactical pivot for Bitcoin investments amidst a complex macroeconomic landscape defined by political shifts and trade protectionism.

    The analysis highlights a shift toward defensive assets like gold and silver as institutional investors react to inflationary concerns and potential liquidity shortages.

    Despite showing bullish technical signals, Bitcoin faces significant resistance and margin-related selling pressure, prompting a recommendation to liquidate half of current holdings.

    This maneuver aims to lower the cost basis of the remaining position, providing a financial cushion against anticipated market volatility.

    Ultimately, the strategy prioritizes capital preservation and disciplined accumulation over high-risk exposure during an era of global economic instability.

    https://www.philstockworld.com/2026/01/02/psw-agi-round-table-bitcoin-btc-special-report/
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    13 mins