1 00:00:01,260 --> 00:00:04,380 Todd Bishop: It gets to the point of just how public a 2 00:00:04,380 --> 00:00:07,620 Todd Bishop: lot of the flight data are. This came up in 3 00:00:07,620 --> 00:00:10,440 Todd Bishop: the issue of Elon Musk's private jet. 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,920 Robin Koenig: The whole Elon Musk's thing is... I think his reaction 5 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:15,330 Robin Koenig: was a little bit exaggerated. 6 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:16,200 Todd Bishop: You think? 7 00:00:18,060 --> 00:00:19,440 Robin Koenig: I have to be careful what I say. I don't 8 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:20,821 Robin Koenig: want our account to be banned from Twitter. 9 00:00:20,821 --> 00:00:21,091 Todd Bishop: Exactly. Yeah. 10 00:00:28,050 --> 00:00:31,500 Todd Bishop: Hello and welcome to GeekWire. I'm GeekWire co- founder Todd Bishop. 11 00:00:31,890 --> 00:00:34,140 Todd Bishop: We are coming to you from Seattle, where we report 12 00:00:34,140 --> 00:00:37,320 Todd Bishop: each day on what's happening around us in technology, business, 13 00:00:37,350 --> 00:00:41,100 Todd Bishop: and innovation. What happens here matters everywhere and every week 14 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:42,900 Todd Bishop: on this show, we talk about some of the most 15 00:00:42,900 --> 00:00:46,800 Todd Bishop: interesting tech and business stories in the news. This week, 16 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,670 Todd Bishop: we go behind the scenes of another media site, Hype Aviation, 17 00:00:50,970 --> 00:00:53,970 Todd Bishop: a news aggregation portal that you might think of as 18 00:00:53,970 --> 00:00:58,950 Todd Bishop: tech meme for aviation space and defense news. My guests 19 00:00:58,950 --> 00:01:02,850 Todd Bishop: are Robin Koenig, who started the site, and Isaac Alexander, 20 00:01:02,940 --> 00:01:07,319 Todd Bishop: a Seattle-area aviation geek who serves as its chief content officer. 21 00:01:07,709 --> 00:01:11,729 Robin Koenig: Hi, I'm Robin. I'm the founder of Hype, Hype Aviation, 22 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,110 Robin Koenig: a website that is aggregating news from the defense, aerospace, 23 00:01:16,110 --> 00:01:17,160 Robin Koenig: and space industries. 24 00:01:19,170 --> 00:01:22,080 Isaac Alexander: Hello, I'm Isaac Alexander, and I'm the Chief Content Officer 25 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,300 Isaac Alexander: for Hype Aviation. So I am in charge of all 26 00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:25,860 Isaac Alexander: the content that you see on the site. 27 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,100 Todd Bishop: Longtime lister, first time guest. Is this the first time 28 00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:29,581 Todd Bishop: you've been on, Isaac? 29 00:01:29,581 --> 00:01:32,640 Isaac Alexander: Yeah, This is my first time debuting here on the GeekWire 30 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:33,959 Isaac Alexander: podcast and happy to do so. 31 00:01:34,170 --> 00:01:36,959 Todd Bishop: Well, in full disclosure, Isaac is a real favorite of 32 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,899 Todd Bishop: the GeekWire team. He's very good at helping us see 33 00:01:39,900 --> 00:01:42,840 Todd Bishop: the landscape of things that, in some cases, we might miss. 34 00:01:43,170 --> 00:01:47,670 Todd Bishop: And it's fitting because that's what you're doing as chief 35 00:01:47,670 --> 00:01:52,380 Todd Bishop: content officer at Hype Aviation as well, working with Robin. 36 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:54,420 Todd Bishop: I wonder if we could start with you, Robin. Can 37 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:57,840 Todd Bishop: you tell us the backstory? Because you started this before 38 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:58,800 Todd Bishop: you met Isaac. 39 00:01:58,860 --> 00:01:59,160 Robin Koenig: Yeah. 40 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:00,090 Isaac Alexander: Absolutely, he did. 41 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,770 Robin Koenig: Hype Aviation originally didn't have that name. That's a project 42 00:02:04,770 --> 00:02:09,120 Robin Koenig: that I started as like a hobby project back in 2016, 2017, 43 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,869 Robin Koenig: I think because I wanted to have a tool or 44 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:16,260 Robin Koenig: some way for me to follow aviation news without having 45 00:02:16,260 --> 00:02:19,200 Robin Koenig: to follow hundreds or thousands of sources because it's very 46 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,930 Robin Koenig: difficult to keep track and not spend too much time 47 00:02:21,930 --> 00:02:24,720 Robin Koenig: on it. So I started working on this little side 48 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,440 Robin Koenig: project in 2017. I've just been living on my computer 49 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,270 Robin Koenig: for a couple of years, and I improved it from 50 00:02:30,270 --> 00:02:33,450 Robin Koenig: time to time and tweaked things here and there. Then 51 00:02:33,510 --> 00:02:37,620 Robin Koenig: in 2021, one and a half years ago, I had 52 00:02:37,620 --> 00:02:41,100 Robin Koenig: some time between jobs and thought, "OK, well this is a 53 00:02:41,100 --> 00:02:43,830 Robin Koenig: good time to, well spend so much time working on it, 54 00:02:43,950 --> 00:02:45,600 Robin Koenig: bringing it to a level that I can publish it 55 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:47,730 Robin Koenig: on the internet and share it with people and to 56 00:02:47,730 --> 00:02:50,820 Robin Koenig: see if people like it." And that's what I did. 57 00:02:51,300 --> 00:02:52,889 Todd Bishop: And so what is your background? 58 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,470 Robin Koenig: Long story. So I originally started in advertising. So I've 59 00:02:58,470 --> 00:03:01,470 Robin Koenig: been working in advertising at an advertising agency in Germany 60 00:03:01,530 --> 00:03:03,690 Robin Koenig: for a couple of years. Got a little bit bored 61 00:03:03,690 --> 00:03:06,000 Robin Koenig: by that and felt like I need to do something 62 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,100 Robin Koenig: else where I can, I don't know, something that is 63 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:11,280 Robin Koenig: a little more challenging, I'm going to offend a lot 64 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,880 Robin Koenig: of graphic designers now, but I wanted to do something 65 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,340 Robin Koenig: else. And at that time I was actually working in 66 00:03:17,340 --> 00:03:21,300 Robin Koenig: print in the early 2000s. Internet got more popular, more 67 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:24,060 Robin Koenig: important, more and more companies wanted to have websites. So 68 00:03:24,150 --> 00:03:26,250 Robin Koenig: in that job at that time, I started to get 69 00:03:26,250 --> 00:03:30,600 Robin Koenig: into web development, just taught myself and wanted to do 70 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,840 Robin Koenig: more on the technical side of things. After a while, 71 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,130 Robin Koenig: decided to go back to school and got a degree 72 00:03:38,130 --> 00:03:42,360 Robin Koenig: in computer science and have since been working as a 73 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:43,140 Robin Koenig: software engineer. 74 00:03:44,100 --> 00:03:47,970 Todd Bishop: Okay. And you've had an interest in aviation over the years? 75 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,510 Robin Koenig: Yeah, always. As a kid, I've always been interested and 76 00:03:51,510 --> 00:03:56,430 Robin Koenig: following the news and just generally interested in aviation. I 77 00:03:56,430 --> 00:04:00,089 Robin Koenig: thought that I'm very enthusiastic and very crazy about aviation 78 00:04:00,090 --> 00:04:02,640 Robin Koenig: until I met Isaac, but that's a different topic. 79 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,560 Isaac Alexander: Well, you have one thing over me, is that you 80 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,020 Isaac Alexander: got to work with one of the giants for a little bit 81 00:04:07,020 --> 00:04:07,500 Isaac Alexander: of time. 82 00:04:07,590 --> 00:04:10,620 Robin Koenig: Yeah, well, while I was going to school, I was 83 00:04:11,220 --> 00:04:14,910 Robin Koenig: doing, for six months, a project with Airbus in Germany. 84 00:04:14,910 --> 00:04:19,770 Robin Koenig: Back then, Airbus Defense and Space, it was in the space, are 85 00:04:19,830 --> 00:04:24,150 Robin Koenig: working on software, ground software for the ISS module. 86 00:04:24,750 --> 00:04:27,599 Todd Bishop: For the International Space Station? Wow. As you alluded to 87 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,669 Todd Bishop: just now, Robin, I don't think I've ever met anybody 88 00:04:29,670 --> 00:04:34,260 Todd Bishop: who's more enthusiastic about aviation than Isaac Alexander is. So 89 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:36,420 Todd Bishop: Isaac, you have a military background? 90 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:41,970 Isaac Alexander: Yes. From 2004 to 2010, I was in the US Navy working 91 00:04:41,970 --> 00:04:46,349 Isaac Alexander: on both F18 Hornets and F18 Super Hornet aircraft. Have 92 00:04:46,350 --> 00:04:48,210 Isaac Alexander: a year of sea time that I spent on the 93 00:04:48,210 --> 00:04:51,869 Isaac Alexander: USS Enterprise, did a world cruise, so I worked on 94 00:04:51,870 --> 00:04:55,680 Isaac Alexander: the GE404 and 414 engines as an engine mechanic for those. So 95 00:04:56,100 --> 00:04:57,989 Isaac Alexander: that was my time with the Navy. And then when 96 00:04:57,990 --> 00:04:59,700 Isaac Alexander: I got back, when I got out of the Navy 97 00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:02,099 Isaac Alexander: in 2010, I attended an event that was held up 98 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:05,430 Isaac Alexander: at the future of Flight Museum here at Payne Field 99 00:05:05,430 --> 00:05:08,940 Isaac Alexander: called the Aviation Geek Fest. Basically you had really passionate 100 00:05:08,940 --> 00:05:11,490 Isaac Alexander: people there from all over the United States was attending 101 00:05:11,490 --> 00:05:13,739 Isaac Alexander: that event. The cool thing about that event is we 102 00:05:13,740 --> 00:05:15,839 Isaac Alexander: were able to walk the factory floor, it was the 103 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,089 Isaac Alexander: only way as a member of the public, you could 104 00:05:18,089 --> 00:05:21,180 Isaac Alexander: walk the factory floor of Boeing, the biggest building in 105 00:05:21,180 --> 00:05:24,660 Isaac Alexander: the world up there. And that was great. And I 106 00:05:24,690 --> 00:05:27,180 Isaac Alexander: got so charged up by that. I saw that social 107 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:28,800 Isaac Alexander: media was taken up and I needed to come up 108 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:30,960 Isaac Alexander: with a brand and stuff for myself. So I used kind of 109 00:05:31,710 --> 00:05:33,930 Isaac Alexander: the moniker of... Seattle, used to be called the Jet 110 00:05:33,930 --> 00:05:35,909 Isaac Alexander: City when the 707 was being built. So I came 111 00:05:35,910 --> 00:05:38,370 Isaac Alexander: up with Jet City and then I saw that Jeff 112 00:05:38,370 --> 00:05:41,460 Isaac Alexander: Bezos was creating his own rocket company here locally called 113 00:05:41,460 --> 00:05:43,560 Isaac Alexander: Blue Origin, and I was interested in space as well. 114 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,630 Isaac Alexander: So I came up with Star, thus kind of my 115 00:05:45,630 --> 00:05:48,719 Isaac Alexander: brand for myself for doing freelance aviation writing as well 116 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,570 Isaac Alexander: as promoting aerospace was called Jet City Star, mainly on Twitter, 117 00:05:52,020 --> 00:05:53,909 Isaac Alexander: later to Instagram and Facebook as well is where you 118 00:05:53,910 --> 00:05:54,720 Isaac Alexander: can find me on there. 119 00:05:54,810 --> 00:05:57,300 Todd Bishop: So how did you and Robin connect? 120 00:05:57,540 --> 00:06:01,230 Robin Koenig: Yeah, so like I said, I launched Hype publicly in 121 00:06:01,230 --> 00:06:04,710 Robin Koenig: 2021, ran the site by myself and improved things and 122 00:06:04,710 --> 00:06:07,529 Robin Koenig: worked on it. And then Isaac reached out to me 123 00:06:07,529 --> 00:06:10,620 Robin Koenig: and said, " Hey," he contacted me. I've known his name, 124 00:06:10,620 --> 00:06:12,719 Robin Koenig: I've seen his name on Twitter, I've been following him 125 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:14,909 Robin Koenig: for a long time, and he reached out to me 126 00:06:14,910 --> 00:06:17,700 Robin Koenig: and said, " Hey, what you doing there is amazing. I want to 127 00:06:17,700 --> 00:06:19,380 Robin Koenig: learn more about it. I want to get involved." And 128 00:06:19,380 --> 00:06:22,380 Robin Koenig: then, yeah, that's how it all started. We had a 129 00:06:22,380 --> 00:06:25,500 Robin Koenig: couple of meetings and discussed things and since then Isaac's 130 00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:25,860 Robin Koenig: on board. 131 00:06:25,950 --> 00:06:29,310 Isaac Alexander: Yeah, him and I had the same vision, is that 132 00:06:29,460 --> 00:06:33,660 Isaac Alexander: there wasn't a news aggregator for aerospace specifically for it. 133 00:06:34,020 --> 00:06:37,140 Isaac Alexander: And low and behold, someone from Germany and someone from 134 00:06:37,140 --> 00:06:40,289 Isaac Alexander: the US had the same dream. But he, Robin, he 135 00:06:40,290 --> 00:06:43,500 Isaac Alexander: built it and designed it, which I'm very, very thankful. 136 00:06:43,890 --> 00:06:46,560 Isaac Alexander: I was thinking about doing the same thing. But for what 137 00:06:46,620 --> 00:06:47,790 Isaac Alexander: I love to do, I love to deal with the 138 00:06:47,790 --> 00:06:52,140 Isaac Alexander: content and dealing with the data of everything. So our 139 00:06:52,140 --> 00:06:55,529 Isaac Alexander: skillsets work really, really well together and for what we're 140 00:06:55,529 --> 00:06:56,609 Isaac Alexander: trying to build here with Hype. 141 00:06:57,060 --> 00:07:00,510 Todd Bishop: So Hype Aviation is at hypeaviation. com? 142 00:07:00,570 --> 00:07:01,020 Isaac Alexander: Correct. 143 00:07:01,140 --> 00:07:05,669 Todd Bishop: And people in the tech world would say, " Oh, you 144 00:07:05,670 --> 00:07:09,720 Todd Bishop: are the tech meme for aviation." Is that fair? Do 145 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:11,850 Todd Bishop: you like that comparison? How do you feel about it? 146 00:07:12,330 --> 00:07:14,370 Robin Koenig: I feel very honored if you would say that. 147 00:07:14,970 --> 00:07:15,150 Isaac Alexander: Ditto. 148 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:21,780 Robin Koenig: No, that's definitely true. And Techmeme is the inspiration. Absolutely. 149 00:07:21,780 --> 00:07:24,030 Robin Koenig: So I've been following Techmeme for, I don't know how 150 00:07:24,030 --> 00:07:26,551 Robin Koenig: long. At least 10 years. 151 00:07:26,551 --> 00:07:28,770 Isaac Alexander: Yeah, since they at least started in 2... I think they started in 2005 152 00:07:28,770 --> 00:07:31,020 Isaac Alexander: and really kind of took off in 2006. So what 153 00:07:31,020 --> 00:07:33,570 Isaac Alexander: Gabe Rivera has built there is just amazing. I'm still 154 00:07:33,570 --> 00:07:36,930 Isaac Alexander: a regular user of it, as is he. But we 155 00:07:36,930 --> 00:07:40,080 Isaac Alexander: both loved aerospace even more, so we wanted something equivalent 156 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:41,790 Isaac Alexander: for that, and Robin went out and built it. 157 00:07:42,210 --> 00:07:46,770 Robin Koenig: So definitely Techmeme is the inspiration and you see that 158 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,550 Robin Koenig: when you go to the site. I think it's a 159 00:07:50,550 --> 00:07:53,580 Robin Koenig: fair thing to bring up. I really like Techmeme, I 160 00:07:53,580 --> 00:07:56,940 Robin Koenig: check the site several times every day, and indeed for 161 00:07:56,940 --> 00:07:58,830 Robin Koenig: a while I've been thinking, " Hey, I wish I had 162 00:07:58,830 --> 00:08:01,620 Robin Koenig: something like this for aviation news." So there was nothing 163 00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:03,960 Robin Koenig: out there, so I just decided to build something myself. 164 00:08:03,990 --> 00:08:06,780 Todd Bishop: That's the way that many great entrepreneurial stories begin. You 165 00:08:06,900 --> 00:08:08,790 Todd Bishop: wanted it, you didn't see it, so you decided to 166 00:08:08,790 --> 00:08:12,600 Todd Bishop: make it happen. Coming up next, the editorial process at 167 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:17,130 Todd Bishop: Hype Aviation and how technology and humans factor into the process. 168 00:08:21,150 --> 00:08:24,060 Todd Bishop: Welcome back. It's Todd Bishop from GeekWire and I'm joined 169 00:08:24,060 --> 00:08:28,020 Todd Bishop: this week by Robin Koenig and Isaac Alexander of Hype Aviation, 170 00:08:28,470 --> 00:08:32,880 Todd Bishop: a site focused on aviation, space and defense news. Let's 171 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,700 Todd Bishop: talk a little bit about the behind the scenes if 172 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:40,770 Todd Bishop: we can. As I understand it, Techmeme uses some automated 173 00:08:40,770 --> 00:08:44,940 Todd Bishop: technology to at least surface the content that it ends 174 00:08:44,940 --> 00:08:48,210 Todd Bishop: up featuring. I'm wondering if with Isaac behind the scenes, 175 00:08:48,270 --> 00:08:50,880 Todd Bishop: you might not just have the human equivalent of a 176 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,880 Todd Bishop: bot to be able to scrape up all that stuff. 177 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:55,710 Todd Bishop: I'd like to hear more about how you find and 178 00:08:55,710 --> 00:08:57,449 Todd Bishop: select the stories that you put on the site. 179 00:08:58,260 --> 00:09:01,710 Robin Koenig: It's a multi-step process. So the first thing is finding 180 00:09:01,740 --> 00:09:05,130 Robin Koenig: articles and stories that we could potentially post on the site, 181 00:09:05,700 --> 00:09:10,559 Robin Koenig: and that is happening mostly automatic. So it's a combination 182 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:13,590 Robin Koenig: of RSS feeds that we follow of Twitter or social 183 00:09:13,590 --> 00:09:16,230 Robin Koenig: media feeds in general that we follow, all kinds of 184 00:09:16,230 --> 00:09:20,970 Robin Koenig: websites that we scrape in certain intervals to just discover 185 00:09:21,030 --> 00:09:24,449 Robin Koenig: new articles. And then we have an internal tooling where 186 00:09:24,450 --> 00:09:28,589 Robin Koenig: all of these articles are assembled and an initial automated 187 00:09:28,590 --> 00:09:32,520 Robin Koenig: process to figure out, "H ey, which articles kind of cover 188 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,280 Robin Koenig: the same story?" If there's a major news story, a 189 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,520 Robin Koenig: lot of different outlets cover the same event that is 190 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,420 Robin Koenig: happening and there's an automated process that already tries to 191 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,870 Robin Koenig: match these things, to bring all of these articles about 192 00:09:45,870 --> 00:09:51,059 Robin Koenig: a certain topic together. And based on that already tries 193 00:09:51,059 --> 00:09:55,650 Robin Koenig: to determine how relevant a particular story is at the time, 194 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,140 Robin Koenig: how popular it is, and how we should rank it 195 00:09:58,140 --> 00:10:02,100 Robin Koenig: on the front page. And in addition to that, we 196 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:08,670 Robin Koenig: analyze how a story is performing on social media LinkedIn, Twitter, 197 00:10:08,670 --> 00:10:13,260 Robin Koenig: Facebook to see how are people interacting with a particular 198 00:10:13,290 --> 00:10:16,770 Robin Koenig: story at the time? Are they commenting? Are they retweeting? 199 00:10:17,130 --> 00:10:19,800 Robin Koenig: Who is commenting? So there's a factor of that as well. 200 00:10:20,010 --> 00:10:23,130 Robin Koenig: Are these people that we trust? If someone that we 201 00:10:23,130 --> 00:10:27,120 Robin Koenig: trust retweets a tweet that links to an article that 202 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:28,980 Robin Koenig: tells us, " Hey, this is probably a story that is 203 00:10:28,980 --> 00:10:32,489 Robin Koenig: relevant for us." So that's the automated part. With that, 204 00:10:32,490 --> 00:10:36,719 Robin Koenig: we can achieve a lot. But after running the site 205 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,920 Robin Koenig: myself for a couple of months, I realized that there 206 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,580 Robin Koenig: is still something missing. I can't automate everything. I've been 207 00:10:44,580 --> 00:10:48,240 Robin Koenig: doing a lot of work initially maintaining it, screening all 208 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,790 Robin Koenig: of the articles, making sure that we don't accidentally post 209 00:10:50,790 --> 00:10:53,700 Robin Koenig: a story that was actually released five years ago, things 210 00:10:53,700 --> 00:10:57,809 Robin Koenig: like that. So there's always a human factor that needs 211 00:10:57,809 --> 00:11:00,660 Robin Koenig: to tweak and improve the content that we have from 212 00:11:00,660 --> 00:11:03,270 Robin Koenig: the site. And then with Isaac on board, he's now 213 00:11:03,270 --> 00:11:07,439 Robin Koenig: doing that full- time. And since then the quality has 214 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:13,470 Robin Koenig: gone up significantly. And I think overall, yeah, the product 215 00:11:13,470 --> 00:11:16,410 Robin Koenig: that we have today is much, much better than what 216 00:11:16,410 --> 00:11:17,760 Robin Koenig: we could do with automation only. 217 00:11:18,630 --> 00:11:20,790 Todd Bishop: So Isaac, for people who haven't seen the site, and 218 00:11:20,790 --> 00:11:22,740 Todd Bishop: I've got it up here on my computer right now, 219 00:11:23,460 --> 00:11:26,429 Todd Bishop: what kinds of content can they expect? Can you give 220 00:11:26,429 --> 00:11:29,820 Todd Bishop: us a sense for the editorial judgment that you bring 221 00:11:29,820 --> 00:11:34,350 Todd Bishop: and the types of things that in your view, Hype 222 00:11:34,380 --> 00:11:36,330 Todd Bishop: readers would want to see? 223 00:11:37,020 --> 00:11:40,140 Isaac Alexander: So my job as being the head of content basically 224 00:11:40,140 --> 00:11:42,300 Isaac Alexander: is, I kind of like to talk about the news 225 00:11:42,300 --> 00:11:44,760 Isaac Alexander: sources that will start, news sources. I kind of like 226 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:46,679 Isaac Alexander: to break them down into the three sectors. You have 227 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,400 Isaac Alexander: your financial press, your CNBC, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, 228 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,770 Isaac Alexander: Bloomberg, Reuters and stuff for it. Then you have your 229 00:11:52,770 --> 00:11:57,059 Isaac Alexander: trade publications covering the industry, Space News, Space Watch, Defense 230 00:11:57,059 --> 00:12:00,689 Isaac Alexander: News, Janes, and then of course Aviation Week, Flight Global, 231 00:12:00,690 --> 00:12:02,550 Isaac Alexander: that type of thing. And then you have your mainstream 232 00:12:02,550 --> 00:12:05,070 Isaac Alexander: news sources like locally here, the Seattle Times, or you 233 00:12:05,070 --> 00:12:08,820 Isaac Alexander: could say the Washington Post, New York Times, London Times 234 00:12:09,059 --> 00:12:11,220 Isaac Alexander: for it. So it's kind of looking through all these 235 00:12:11,220 --> 00:12:13,890 Isaac Alexander: news sources every day and finding the factor in stuff 236 00:12:13,890 --> 00:12:16,530 Isaac Alexander: of what is going to be relevant to the people 237 00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:18,840 Isaac Alexander: that work in the aviation, defense or space sectors. 238 00:12:19,050 --> 00:12:21,360 Todd Bishop: So that is your target audience as people who are 239 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:22,590 Todd Bishop: working in this industry? 240 00:12:22,590 --> 00:12:24,750 Isaac Alexander: Correct. We want to be able to reach the decision 241 00:12:24,750 --> 00:12:27,660 Isaac Alexander: makers. What we publish under site believe is important enough 242 00:12:27,900 --> 00:12:30,960 Isaac Alexander: that the leadership of various aerospace companies across the globe 243 00:12:30,990 --> 00:12:34,140 Isaac Alexander: should be going to us. For instance, the Southwest Airlines 244 00:12:34,140 --> 00:12:36,510 Isaac Alexander: meltdown here in the United States. What I've tried to 245 00:12:36,510 --> 00:12:39,210 Isaac Alexander: do as best I can is find the best articles 246 00:12:39,210 --> 00:12:42,930 Isaac Alexander: that show the most comprehensive coverage of what went wrong 247 00:12:43,230 --> 00:12:46,260 Isaac Alexander: and why it went wrong, and then what's the steps 248 00:12:46,260 --> 00:12:48,150 Isaac Alexander: that the airline is taking for. But it's not just 249 00:12:48,150 --> 00:12:51,030 Isaac Alexander: Southwest. Other airlines too look for it to make sure 250 00:12:51,179 --> 00:12:52,890 Isaac Alexander: their operations are going to be at the top of 251 00:12:53,010 --> 00:12:54,510 Isaac Alexander: their game, so it doesn't happen to them. 252 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:56,820 Todd Bishop: What's the business model behind the site? 253 00:12:57,870 --> 00:13:02,250 Robin Koenig: There is no business model, right. So it started as 254 00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:06,540 Robin Koenig: a hobby project and today there is no business model 255 00:13:06,540 --> 00:13:09,780 Robin Koenig: and we are not monetizing the site at all. We 256 00:13:09,900 --> 00:13:12,030 Robin Koenig: could put ads, but I really don't want to put 257 00:13:12,030 --> 00:13:12,750 Robin Koenig: ads on the site. 258 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,140 Todd Bishop: Spoken as a former advertising industry person. Right? 259 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:23,370 Robin Koenig: Yeah, no comment. So I'm not against ads in general, 260 00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:25,620 Robin Koenig: but if you put ads, it should be very relevant 261 00:13:25,620 --> 00:13:29,220 Robin Koenig: to the audience. And I think most of the advertising 262 00:13:29,220 --> 00:13:32,670 Robin Koenig: platforms today can't offer that to a degree that I 263 00:13:32,670 --> 00:13:35,400 Robin Koenig: would be happy with. But I think going back to 264 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,520 Robin Koenig: Techmeme, as you mentioned earlier, they have a great model 265 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,300 Robin Koenig: with their sponsorships where they have very, very relevant sponsorships 266 00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:44,429 Robin Koenig: on the site. And that's something that we are definitely 267 00:13:44,429 --> 00:13:47,370 Robin Koenig: exploring and we are having a couple of conversations to 268 00:13:47,370 --> 00:13:49,950 Robin Koenig: potentially bring that on the site. But to answer your 269 00:13:49,950 --> 00:13:53,309 Robin Koenig: questions, today we are not monetizing at all, but we 270 00:13:53,309 --> 00:13:54,570 Robin Koenig: are exploring different options. 271 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,319 Todd Bishop: I am curious with Techmeme speaking as a tech journalist 272 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,280 Todd Bishop: myself, when I get a story on Techmeme, it's a 273 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,569 Todd Bishop: big deal. I take pride in it. We actually, in 274 00:14:06,570 --> 00:14:09,120 Todd Bishop: Slack, this is a little behind the scenes detail, at GeekWire, we 275 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,360 Todd Bishop: have a bot that runs, and when one of our 276 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,589 Todd Bishop: stories gets on Techmeme, it goes into our main news 277 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,680 Todd Bishop: feed for the editorial team and it's a little bit 278 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,050 Todd Bishop: of a celebration because it means that you've broken through 279 00:14:22,410 --> 00:14:23,730 Todd Bishop: to the point that- 280 00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:23,821 Isaac Alexander: Absolutely. 281 00:14:23,821 --> 00:14:27,720 Todd Bishop: ... the decision makers for their site noticed. 282 00:14:27,870 --> 00:14:28,050 Isaac Alexander: Yep. 283 00:14:28,350 --> 00:14:31,950 Todd Bishop: There's also the flip side where I can imagine some 284 00:14:31,950 --> 00:14:35,850 Todd Bishop: journalists might say, " Hey, wait a second, why would I 285 00:14:35,850 --> 00:14:40,140 Todd Bishop: want a news aggregator to focus on my site? And 286 00:14:40,230 --> 00:14:42,300 Todd Bishop: I guess your answer there, I'm just, sorry, I don't 287 00:14:42,300 --> 00:14:43,380 Todd Bishop: mean to answer it for you, but I guess your 288 00:14:43,380 --> 00:14:46,110 Todd Bishop: answer there would be, " The headlines people click on go 289 00:14:46,110 --> 00:14:48,930 Todd Bishop: to their story, not to your summary of their story." 290 00:14:48,930 --> 00:14:51,750 Isaac Alexander: Yeah, I've been very clear is that some of them 291 00:14:51,750 --> 00:14:54,060 Isaac Alexander: had come to me and said, " Don't put us out 292 00:14:54,060 --> 00:14:57,180 Isaac Alexander: of business." And I'm like, If you're an aviation, defense 293 00:14:57,180 --> 00:15:00,030 Isaac Alexander: or space publisher, Robin and I want to make sure that 294 00:15:00,030 --> 00:15:03,570 Isaac Alexander: your business is good, is solvent." What we're trying to 295 00:15:03,570 --> 00:15:06,450 Isaac Alexander: do with the site and for publishers that we're pointing 296 00:15:06,450 --> 00:15:09,270 Isaac Alexander: to is the only thing we do, they might do the, " 297 00:15:09,660 --> 00:15:12,780 Isaac Alexander: Airline A is coming to this airport or flying type 298 00:15:12,780 --> 00:15:16,320 Isaac Alexander: of thing." We will actually rewrite the headline to actually 299 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,870 Isaac Alexander: be more descriptive what it is- 300 00:15:18,870 --> 00:15:19,981 Todd Bishop: More informative on its' own. 301 00:15:19,981 --> 00:15:22,800 Isaac Alexander: ... because we don't want to waste people's time. The goal 302 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,330 Isaac Alexander: that we're trying to do for the headlines that are 303 00:15:24,330 --> 00:15:26,670 Isaac Alexander: actually written on the site is you have an outline 304 00:15:26,670 --> 00:15:29,550 Isaac Alexander: of the complete story in the headline. Period. And then 305 00:15:29,550 --> 00:15:31,110 Isaac Alexander: you can click on it and go to it or 306 00:15:31,110 --> 00:15:33,239 Isaac Alexander: you can look and beneath that, then you have the 307 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,270 Isaac Alexander: links to all the other publishers that all wrote about 308 00:15:36,270 --> 00:15:38,280 Isaac Alexander: the same story as well, you have them all right 309 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,190 Isaac Alexander: there. So it's all encapsulated. So within a couple seconds 310 00:15:41,190 --> 00:15:44,130 Isaac Alexander: you can flip back and forth between them and then 311 00:15:44,130 --> 00:15:46,440 Isaac Alexander: you can gauge the value of what you have written. 312 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:48,630 Isaac Alexander: And to answer your question on the stats page, I 313 00:15:48,630 --> 00:15:50,520 Isaac Alexander: have reached out to a bunch of the journalists, I 314 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,310 Isaac Alexander: sent them a direct message showing that their site or 315 00:15:53,310 --> 00:15:55,920 Isaac Alexander: their article is the top story and that I've gotten great 316 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,590 Isaac Alexander: feedback from the various journalists and a few publishers as well. 317 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:00,780 Todd Bishop: All right, we're going to take just a quick break. 318 00:16:01,110 --> 00:16:02,610 Todd Bishop: When we come back, I want to ask you about 319 00:16:02,610 --> 00:16:04,440 Todd Bishop: a couple of specific stories and a little bit of 320 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:09,030 Todd Bishop: the technology that's happening in the aerospace and aviation industries. 321 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,060 Todd Bishop: You're listening to GeekWire and we will be right back. 322 00:16:16,380 --> 00:16:19,620 Todd Bishop: Welcome back. We're talking this week with the people behind 323 00:16:19,650 --> 00:16:24,990 Todd Bishop: Hype Aviation, news aggregator for the aerospace and aviation industries, 324 00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:30,930 Todd Bishop: Robin Koenig and Isaac Alexander. So there's a couple stories 325 00:16:30,990 --> 00:16:33,900 Todd Bishop: that have just taken off, if you'll pardon the pun, 326 00:16:34,140 --> 00:16:38,250 Todd Bishop: Southwest Airlines and the debacle in terms of their computer systems. 327 00:16:38,310 --> 00:16:41,100 Todd Bishop: And one of the issues that a lot of people 328 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:44,400 Todd Bishop: ran into was luggage, and there were some fascinating stories 329 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,390 Todd Bishop: about Airtags from Apple being used to track luggage. I 330 00:16:48,420 --> 00:16:52,620 Todd Bishop: was testing Alaska Airlines' new electronic bag tag over the 331 00:16:52,620 --> 00:16:55,260 Todd Bishop: holidays on my own bag and in my own travels. Now, 332 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,370 Todd Bishop: this does not on its' own solve the lost baggage problem, 333 00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:02,790 Todd Bishop: but this whole situation over the past few weeks speaks 334 00:17:02,790 --> 00:17:05,910 Todd Bishop: to the need to really give people much more detailed 335 00:17:05,910 --> 00:17:09,090 Todd Bishop: tracking of their bags. Are you seeing that happen in 336 00:17:09,090 --> 00:17:12,030 Todd Bishop: the aerospace industry now or in the airline industry? Is 337 00:17:12,030 --> 00:17:13,650 Todd Bishop: there a move toward that kind of tracking? 338 00:17:13,859 --> 00:17:16,500 Robin Koenig: Well, I can tell you that I just two days 339 00:17:16,500 --> 00:17:19,320 Robin Koenig: ago came back from Germany and Turkey and all my 340 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:20,670 Robin Koenig: luggage had Airtags in them. 341 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:26,100 Todd Bishop: That you put in there. Absolutely. That's very DIY though. 342 00:17:26,580 --> 00:17:27,510 Robin Koenig: Well, it works. 343 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,570 Todd Bishop: So were you able to track all of your bags 344 00:17:30,570 --> 00:17:31,380 Todd Bishop: through the system? 345 00:17:31,410 --> 00:17:32,340 Robin Koenig: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. 346 00:17:32,609 --> 00:17:34,410 Todd Bishop: And did it give you a level of comfort? 347 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,109 Robin Koenig: Yes, it actually did. And I did check the... I made 348 00:17:37,109 --> 00:17:39,030 Robin Koenig: sure that, I don't know my luggage made it on 349 00:17:39,030 --> 00:17:42,359 Robin Koenig: the plane or that my luggage made the transfer. That 350 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,639 Robin Koenig: feels good these days because, actually, I just traveled in 351 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,580 Robin Koenig: November and my luggage arrived home like a week later. 352 00:17:47,910 --> 00:17:50,910 Robin Koenig: We all had these problems at some point probably. And 353 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,700 Robin Koenig: having the convenience to just check your phone and know 354 00:17:53,700 --> 00:17:56,280 Robin Koenig: exactly where your luggage is right now or where it's 355 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,430 Robin Koenig: been over the last 30 minutes, very nice to have. So 356 00:17:59,430 --> 00:18:00,390 Robin Koenig: yes, it is a problem. 357 00:18:01,260 --> 00:18:04,260 Todd Bishop: Do you see the airlines themselves at some point? I 358 00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:06,840 Todd Bishop: know Alaska has talked about this in their case, but 359 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,050 Todd Bishop: do you see the airlines themselves at some point coming 360 00:18:10,050 --> 00:18:13,859 Todd Bishop: out with built- in technology in their apps to track 361 00:18:13,859 --> 00:18:14,250 Todd Bishop: the bags? 362 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,580 Isaac Alexander: It's funny, he mentioned he went to Germany and the 363 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:21,360 Isaac Alexander: fact that the German flag carrier Lufthansa was banning Airtags 364 00:18:21,750 --> 00:18:24,629 Isaac Alexander: last year, and then they relented from the public outcry 365 00:18:24,630 --> 00:18:28,590 Isaac Alexander: and then they chose to allow them to fly again. 366 00:18:28,980 --> 00:18:31,260 Isaac Alexander: Is the airlines going to step forward and do this? 367 00:18:31,740 --> 00:18:33,720 Isaac Alexander: That's a good question. I do not have an answer, 368 00:18:33,900 --> 00:18:39,419 Isaac Alexander: because I've heard conflicting priorities for them wanting to improve 369 00:18:39,420 --> 00:18:42,660 Isaac Alexander: the travel experience else wise, other than the baggage for 370 00:18:42,660 --> 00:18:45,840 Isaac Alexander: things. Delta, for example, just announced that CES that they're 371 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,440 Isaac Alexander: offering free wifi in all the newer planes that are 372 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,500 Isaac Alexander: flying here. Now is that... I'm not saying that they 373 00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:56,070 Isaac Alexander: made a priority over tracking of luggage, but the airlines 374 00:18:56,070 --> 00:18:59,310 Isaac Alexander: are trying to differentiate themselves in a market as to 375 00:18:59,310 --> 00:19:01,260 Isaac Alexander: what they're offering their customers from flying from point A 376 00:19:01,260 --> 00:19:03,900 Isaac Alexander: to point B. So you could see some airlines going 377 00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:06,570 Isaac Alexander: all in on that, whereas other airlines would rather let 378 00:19:06,570 --> 00:19:08,940 Isaac Alexander: somebody else put the money up and find a solution 379 00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:10,410 Isaac Alexander: and then they would come forth to do it. 380 00:19:10,859 --> 00:19:15,480 Todd Bishop: And I imagine some airlines would charge you an extra $40 for $ 50 381 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:16,620 Todd Bishop: or more as an a la carte. 382 00:19:16,620 --> 00:19:20,399 Isaac Alexander: Yeah. Which, yeah the a la carte fees, especially with your ultra low 383 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,720 Isaac Alexander: cost carriers. Absolutely. 384 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,420 Todd Bishop: The other story I wanted to mention to you, I 385 00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:26,220 Todd Bishop: alluded to a little bit when we were talking before 386 00:19:26,220 --> 00:19:30,060 Todd Bishop: we started recording, we have airplanes flying over us all 387 00:19:30,060 --> 00:19:32,460 Todd Bishop: the time here, and it's funny, as soon as I 388 00:19:32,460 --> 00:19:35,010 Todd Bishop: started talking to you two, they stopped. I don't know, 389 00:19:35,010 --> 00:19:39,119 Todd Bishop: maybe you have a supreme command over the flight routes 390 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,750 Todd Bishop: here on the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle's Fremont 391 00:19:42,750 --> 00:19:43,440 Todd Bishop: neighborhood. But... 392 00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:43,980 Robin Koenig: No comment. 393 00:19:46,050 --> 00:19:49,260 Todd Bishop: It gets to the point of just how public a 394 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:52,980 Todd Bishop: lot of the flight data is, flight data are, I 395 00:19:52,980 --> 00:19:55,260 Todd Bishop: guess some of the English teachers would correct me on. 396 00:19:55,740 --> 00:19:59,850 Todd Bishop: But this came up in the issue of Elon Musk's 397 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,590 Todd Bishop: private jet a few weeks ago, several weeks ago, as 398 00:20:04,590 --> 00:20:10,169 Todd Bishop: news publishers yourselves now, news aggregators, how do you look 399 00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:14,429 Todd Bishop: at the issues of privacy that come up and doxing 400 00:20:14,609 --> 00:20:20,040 Todd Bishop: potentially through making public someone's otherwise kind of hard to 401 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,230 Todd Bishop: find flight data records? 402 00:20:24,090 --> 00:20:26,002 Isaac Alexander: Oh, you (inaudible) . 403 00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:26,461 Todd Bishop: I saved the corniest question for last. 404 00:20:26,461 --> 00:20:29,460 Isaac Alexander: I personally know Jack, I know Jack. 405 00:20:29,730 --> 00:20:30,360 Todd Bishop: Jack Dorsey? 406 00:20:30,420 --> 00:20:31,801 Isaac Alexander: No, Jack Sweeney. The guy that runs that Twitter account. 407 00:20:31,801 --> 00:20:35,399 Todd Bishop: Oh, okay. All right. No, sorry. I think of Jack, there's 408 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:36,179 Todd Bishop: only one Jack in my... 409 00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:38,130 Isaac Alexander: Yeah, Jack Sweeney and stuff. He's... 410 00:20:38,369 --> 00:20:40,261 Todd Bishop: Who ran the site, who was banned from Twitter. 411 00:20:40,261 --> 00:20:40,620 Isaac Alexander: Yes. 412 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:41,040 Todd Bishop: Okay. 413 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:41,700 Isaac Alexander: And he's back now. 414 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:42,180 Todd Bishop: Okay. 415 00:20:42,270 --> 00:20:45,720 Robin Koenig: The whole Elon Musk thing, I think his reaction was a 416 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:46,859 Robin Koenig: little bit exaggerated. 417 00:20:47,310 --> 00:20:47,790 Todd Bishop: You think? 418 00:20:49,590 --> 00:20:49,801 Robin Koenig: Well, yeah. 419 00:20:49,801 --> 00:20:51,960 Todd Bishop: Well, I guess I can understand his concern about his 420 00:20:52,140 --> 00:20:54,002 Todd Bishop: privacy at a threshold level, especially (inaudible) . 421 00:20:54,002 --> 00:20:55,530 Robin Koenig: I have to be careful what I say. I don't want our 422 00:20:55,530 --> 00:20:56,551 Robin Koenig: account to be banned from Twitter. 423 00:20:56,551 --> 00:21:00,391 Todd Bishop: Exactly. Yeah. 424 00:21:00,391 --> 00:21:02,669 Robin Koenig: So yeah, these days you need to be careful. Yes, of 425 00:21:02,670 --> 00:21:09,389 Robin Koenig: course the reaction was exaggerated and definitely not appropriate. Doxing 426 00:21:09,390 --> 00:21:11,969 Robin Koenig: is a problem and no one wants it, and we 427 00:21:11,970 --> 00:21:13,830 Robin Koenig: all want to avoid it. And I think we all 428 00:21:13,830 --> 00:21:17,580 Robin Koenig: agree that, I don't know, we should not publish the 429 00:21:17,580 --> 00:21:22,020 Robin Koenig: location of Elon Musk's kids anywhere. Indeed, the information that 430 00:21:22,020 --> 00:21:24,690 Robin Koenig: was posted on Twitter is public information, and it's been 431 00:21:24,690 --> 00:21:27,359 Robin Koenig: for, I don't know how long, this was just one 432 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:28,440 Robin Koenig: channel to publish it. 433 00:21:29,340 --> 00:21:31,530 Isaac Alexander: Well, the other thing too with Elon, and not only 434 00:21:31,590 --> 00:21:34,350 Isaac Alexander: did he shut down the personal account of the programmer, 435 00:21:34,350 --> 00:21:36,479 Isaac Alexander: Jack Sweeney, who built the Twitter bot as well as 436 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,030 Isaac Alexander: the other... He had like 20 other Twitter bots devoted 437 00:21:39,030 --> 00:21:41,850 Isaac Alexander: towards NASA airplanes, would send up updates whenever a NASA 438 00:21:41,850 --> 00:21:45,030 Isaac Alexander: airplane flew up, Colson Aviation and aerial firefighting company and 439 00:21:45,030 --> 00:21:47,790 Isaac Alexander: stuff. He created a bot network for that for posting, 440 00:21:47,790 --> 00:21:50,220 Isaac Alexander: those all got taken down. He also did the celebrity 441 00:21:50,220 --> 00:21:54,240 Isaac Alexander: jets locally here, Jeff Bezos private jet, Mark Zuckerberg's private 442 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,730 Isaac Alexander: jet. He was doing it. And those all got taken 443 00:21:56,730 --> 00:21:59,609 Isaac Alexander: down. The technology he was using for that is called 444 00:21:59,609 --> 00:22:03,600 Isaac Alexander: ADSB exchange. That one is specifically popular for doing jets 445 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,209 Isaac Alexander: is because they don't take money for taking registration of 446 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,409 Isaac Alexander: aircraft off of it. Elon chose to ban that account 447 00:22:10,619 --> 00:22:14,100 Isaac Alexander: even though they didn't... They're the technology behind what Jack 448 00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:17,490 Isaac Alexander: uses, but they didn't personally post anything about... Elon chose 449 00:22:17,490 --> 00:22:21,060 Isaac Alexander: to take away a completely business off Twitter for that. 450 00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:23,760 Isaac Alexander: So for me, extremely sad and frustrating. 451 00:22:24,450 --> 00:22:27,720 Todd Bishop: Isaac, you're, as we've mentioned, a real enthusiast about aviation. 452 00:22:27,750 --> 00:22:30,090 Todd Bishop: What are you most excited about these days, especially when 453 00:22:30,090 --> 00:22:34,080 Todd Bishop: you think about technology and all kinds of aircraft? 454 00:22:34,350 --> 00:22:37,170 Isaac Alexander: My most exciting thing I'm looking forward to in 2023 455 00:22:37,170 --> 00:22:40,350 Isaac Alexander: for aerospace is actually defense related. The US Air Force 456 00:22:40,350 --> 00:22:44,670 Isaac Alexander: revealed that brand new Northrop Grumman B21 Raider Bomber. This is 457 00:22:44,670 --> 00:22:47,129 Isaac Alexander: the first new stealth bomber that the United States has 458 00:22:47,130 --> 00:22:50,820 Isaac Alexander: built since the 1988 when the B2 rolled out of 459 00:22:50,820 --> 00:22:53,490 Isaac Alexander: Palmdale. What's going to be interesting about this is from 460 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:56,460 Isaac Alexander: what I'm hearing from military sources, is that their first 461 00:22:56,460 --> 00:22:59,100 Isaac Alexander: flight of it... Usually first flights of aircraft are done 462 00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:02,700 Isaac Alexander: during the day. Nope. Apparently they want to fly that 463 00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:06,810 Isaac Alexander: aircraft, have the first aircraft as long as possible, undisclosed 464 00:23:06,810 --> 00:23:10,830 Isaac Alexander: to the general public globally. It's not so much showing 465 00:23:10,830 --> 00:23:16,170 Isaac Alexander: American citizens fine, it's showing our adversaries, North Korea, Iran, 466 00:23:16,170 --> 00:23:18,510 Isaac Alexander: Russia, China, that type of thing. It's to keeping the 467 00:23:18,510 --> 00:23:21,750 Isaac Alexander: lock on it. So it's seeing that aircraft and stuff 468 00:23:21,750 --> 00:23:24,990 Isaac Alexander: fly for the first time and so it gets me excited. I 469 00:23:25,950 --> 00:23:27,690 Isaac Alexander: grew up next to SeaTech Airport, so I saw plenty 470 00:23:27,690 --> 00:23:30,540 Isaac Alexander: of commercial aviation growing up, and I always loved the military 471 00:23:30,540 --> 00:23:33,090 Isaac Alexander: jets and bombers for the US Air Force are so, 472 00:23:33,510 --> 00:23:35,760 Isaac Alexander: or for any Air Force globally, are so rare. So 473 00:23:35,940 --> 00:23:37,710 Isaac Alexander: that's kind of the one story and stuff that makes me 474 00:23:38,430 --> 00:23:42,570 Isaac Alexander: excited for defense. For Space, see more Falcon Heavy launches 475 00:23:43,140 --> 00:23:45,510 Isaac Alexander: happen. There's supposed to be, I believe, two this year, 476 00:23:45,510 --> 00:23:49,230 Isaac Alexander: and then we had the glorious Artemis launch, and that 477 00:23:49,230 --> 00:23:51,060 Isaac Alexander: one's going to be for a couple years. And I 478 00:23:51,060 --> 00:23:54,060 Isaac Alexander: don't know, probably for me, the best space stories has 479 00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:59,130 Isaac Alexander: been the James Web telescope seeing the images, incredible images 480 00:23:59,130 --> 00:24:01,890 Isaac Alexander: and stuff coming from that, especially if you go locally 481 00:24:01,890 --> 00:24:03,660 Isaac Alexander: to the Museum of Flight and you go to the 482 00:24:04,109 --> 00:24:06,930 Isaac Alexander: space building there and they have a big screen television with 483 00:24:06,930 --> 00:24:10,050 Isaac Alexander: nine monitors put together. And when you see the images 484 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,680 Isaac Alexander: of the cosmos on those screens, you could just sit 485 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,869 Isaac Alexander: there. I did for a half hour and just watching 486 00:24:15,869 --> 00:24:17,820 Isaac Alexander: the images that they had kind of slowly going through 487 00:24:17,820 --> 00:24:20,399 Isaac Alexander: them this summer at the museum and it's just phenomenal. 488 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:21,359 Isaac Alexander: So just great. 489 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,419 Todd Bishop: Anything you're looking forward to, especially in the news? 490 00:24:24,510 --> 00:24:28,530 Robin Koenig: I'm very excited about everything EVTOL, like electric, vertical takeoff 491 00:24:28,530 --> 00:24:32,670 Robin Koenig: and landing. I'm skeptical to a degree how soon we're 492 00:24:32,670 --> 00:24:34,290 Robin Koenig: going to get any of these and how soon we're 493 00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:35,820 Robin Koenig: actually going to be able to use any of these 494 00:24:35,820 --> 00:24:38,369 Robin Koenig: products. But I'm very excited about it because I think 495 00:24:38,490 --> 00:24:42,930 Robin Koenig: when we have them, that's going to change transportation, especially 496 00:24:42,930 --> 00:24:47,580 Robin Koenig: in metropolitan areas, a lot. And that's definitely a field 497 00:24:47,609 --> 00:24:49,830 Robin Koenig: that I'm very, very interested in. One thing we want 498 00:24:49,830 --> 00:24:52,350 Robin Koenig: to add on Hype Aviation as well that we're working 499 00:24:52,350 --> 00:24:55,560 Robin Koenig: on right now, and we'll be launching soon, is a 500 00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:00,750 Robin Koenig: more topic- focused categorization of news. So that, for example, 501 00:25:00,750 --> 00:25:04,350 Robin Koenig: you are interested in general aviation or you are interested 502 00:25:04,350 --> 00:25:07,170 Robin Koenig: in the James Space Telescope, for example, or you are 503 00:25:07,170 --> 00:25:11,669 Robin Koenig: interested in electric vertical takeoff and landing technologies that you 504 00:25:11,670 --> 00:25:15,990 Robin Koenig: can have dedicated landing pages for these specific topics and 505 00:25:15,990 --> 00:25:18,540 Robin Koenig: see all the news that are relevant to this particular 506 00:25:18,540 --> 00:25:20,609 Robin Koenig: topic. And I think this is going to improve the 507 00:25:20,609 --> 00:25:23,879 Robin Koenig: experience for our visitors and readers significantly, and it's going 508 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,820 Robin Koenig: to make it much, much easier and actually open up 509 00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:29,700 Robin Koenig: a completely new way to follow news in these fields. 510 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,440 Robin Koenig: And we are very excited about launching that soon. 511 00:25:32,310 --> 00:25:35,130 Todd Bishop: So if people are not familiar with Hype Aviation and 512 00:25:35,130 --> 00:25:39,180 Todd Bishop: they want to follow you, obviously they can go to HypeAviation. 513 00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:41,130 Todd Bishop: com and follow you on Twitter. 514 00:25:41,340 --> 00:25:44,730 Isaac Alexander: LinkedIn, and now (inaudible) . We added that as a 515 00:25:44,730 --> 00:25:47,910 Isaac Alexander: feature. And then also we, very importantly, if you want 516 00:25:47,910 --> 00:25:50,910 Isaac Alexander: a daily newsletter, Robin set it up for three time 517 00:25:50,910 --> 00:25:53,700 Isaac Alexander: zones, so basically if you're in Europe, Asia or in 518 00:25:53,700 --> 00:25:57,060 Isaac Alexander: North Americas, you can sign up for the time zone 519 00:25:57,060 --> 00:26:00,179 Isaac Alexander: and stuff you're choosing. It has five top aerospace stories and 520 00:26:00,180 --> 00:26:02,669 Isaac Alexander: everything, whether it's aviation, defense or space. And then it 521 00:26:02,670 --> 00:26:05,910 Isaac Alexander: has five aviation stories, five defense stories, five space stories 522 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,459 Isaac Alexander: top of the day. Going back to what he said 523 00:26:08,460 --> 00:26:12,359 Isaac Alexander: about Techmeme and Gabe, the technology industry is huge, but 524 00:26:12,510 --> 00:26:14,970 Isaac Alexander: I forget what the last computed amount and stuff that 525 00:26:14,970 --> 00:26:19,050 Isaac Alexander: the technology industry is. Aerospace, aviation, defense and space is 526 00:26:19,050 --> 00:26:21,540 Isaac Alexander: a smaller subset of that. But for me, it's just as 527 00:26:21,540 --> 00:26:23,880 Isaac Alexander: exciting. I'm thrilled and stuff for it. So it gives 528 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,040 Isaac Alexander: me enough variety and stuff every day to get up 529 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:27,419 Isaac Alexander: for and cover it. 530 00:26:27,990 --> 00:26:29,760 Todd Bishop: I got to say, in some ways, Isaac, I think 531 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,540 Todd Bishop: you're underselling it because you've got the technology built in 532 00:26:33,810 --> 00:26:37,889 Todd Bishop: to the entire conversation, but you've also got this intersection 533 00:26:37,890 --> 00:26:41,580 Todd Bishop: with the physical world and not just our earthly physical 534 00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:45,420 Todd Bishop: world, but the universe as well. For this reason, it's 535 00:26:45,420 --> 00:26:48,210 Todd Bishop: one of the reasons I love talking with Alan Boyle, 536 00:26:48,270 --> 00:26:52,649 Todd Bishop: GeekWire contributing editor, who's a longtime aerospace and space reporter. 537 00:26:52,650 --> 00:26:56,220 Todd Bishop: It's just, you can sit here and imagine the possibilities 538 00:26:56,220 --> 00:27:00,180 Todd Bishop: and think about everything not just on this planet, but 539 00:27:00,750 --> 00:27:03,449 Todd Bishop: everywhere in the universe. So it's pretty cool. 540 00:27:03,630 --> 00:27:06,150 Robin Koenig: Yeah. Just one thing we should maybe mention to avoid 541 00:27:06,150 --> 00:27:09,600 Robin Koenig: confusion, the site is indeed called HypeAviation. com, and that 542 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,870 Robin Koenig: is because it started as an aviation news aggregator. But 543 00:27:12,930 --> 00:27:15,810 Robin Koenig: since Isaac joined, since we now have more manpower and 544 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:21,959 Robin Koenig: have more headcount to process all these news, we since 545 00:27:21,990 --> 00:27:25,290 Robin Koenig: expanded to defense and space stories. So that's why Isaac 546 00:27:25,290 --> 00:27:29,010 Robin Koenig: also brought up some of those topics earlier. So the 547 00:27:29,010 --> 00:27:33,150 Robin Koenig: site is, as of today, still called HypeAviation. com, but 548 00:27:33,150 --> 00:27:34,710 Robin Koenig: we are also covering defense and space news. 549 00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:37,260 Todd Bishop: Robin and Isaac, thank you very much for sitting down 550 00:27:37,260 --> 00:27:37,620 Todd Bishop: with me. 551 00:27:37,859 --> 00:27:39,359 Isaac Alexander: It was honor and pleasure, Todd. Thanks. 552 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:40,260 Robin Koenig: Thanks for having us. 553 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,250 Todd Bishop: Thanks for listening. C urt Milton edits and produces the show. 554 00:27:44,580 --> 00:27:48,510 Todd Bishop: Daniel LK Caldwell composed and performed our theme music. I'm 555 00:27:48,510 --> 00:27:51,600 Todd Bishop: GeekWire co- founder Todd Bishop. We'll be back next week 556 00:27:51,690 --> 00:27:54,600 Todd Bishop: with a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast.