Right About Now with Ryan Alford - NO BS Business News: Top 10 Mother's Day Gifts - Amazon Launches the Age of Robots - Crypto News - Trading Card Series Launch

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

In this episode of Right About Now, Ryan Alford dives into the hottest business and marketing headlines shaping the week:🎁 Top 10 Mother’s Day Gift IdeasWith Mother’s Day just around the corner, we’re bringing you a curated list of thoughtful, trending, and surprisingly affordable gift ideas that are dominating search and sales charts. From wellness tech to experiential gifts, Ryan breaks down what consumers are buying—and why brands are doubling down on emotional marketing this season.🤖 Amazon Launches the Age of RobotsAmazon just announced a major step into the future with its expanded use of robotics across warehouses and fulfillment centers. We explore what this means for logistics, labor, and how other companies might follow suit in a growing automation race.₿ Big Moves in CryptoFrom major altcoin rallies to new government regulations, Ryan breaks down the latest movements in the crypto space. What’s real, what’s hype, and how should marketers and business owners think about blockchain’s growing role in finance and commerce?🃏 New Trading Card Series DropNostalgia meets niche marketing with the latest release of a pop-culture trading card series that’s catching fire among collectors and digital natives alike. Ryan looks at how brands are tapping into fandom and exclusivity to create viral physical/digital products.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now. It's your weekly business news, marketing news, and just all the tips and guidance you

need as you run your daily lives. I'm joined as always by Chris Hansen in Miami. What's up, Chris? How are you, Ryan? I'm good. Here on May 9th, 2025. We appreciate everyone for listening wherever, however, your place shifting. That's what it's called. That's when you listen and you watch when and where you want to. So wherever that happens, we appreciate it. Watch us on YouTube. Get the

full effect. You get the Miami vibes. I almost want to say Miami vice. Hey, the Miami vice or Miami vibes with Chris. And then you get to see the gold shimmer is our championship belt right here. I'm still waiting for someone to come take it out of my cold dead hand. It's not happening as we are your number one marketing and business show on Apple for two years running. We appreciate that. But yes, we have Mother's Day weekend, Chris. Don't forget. Big weekend. Don't forget y'all. Hey, happy. They say happy wife, happy life, happy mom, happy life. Happy mom, life to mom. That's what they say. There we go.

So if you're listening like you should be, if you hit that subscribe button, you get this like right up on the smartphone. You get the announcement when we release. So we appreciate it. Hit the subscribe, hit the review button, leave us a review. It helps. We appreciate the support. But more importantly, you get it topically so that you don't miss 2025's

best Mother's Day gifts. So you still have two days left. Let's be honest. We do skew male with this show. We appreciate love and welcome more females, but we do skewed 65% male on this show. So let's be honest here. You ain't bought your mom anything yet. I haven't bought my mom anything yet. You haven't got it done yet. If you're listening, you still, you got two days left. That's what we're going to go through. That's what we're going through. We're going to help you. We're on BuzzFeeds. Value add, baby. That's what we do. Best Mother's Day gifts. So we're going to get to the business news, but this is the business that matters.

Because look, I could talk to you about tariffs. I could talk to you about all kinds of stuff. And that stuff matters. But no show covers the gamut from pop culture to life tips to business news. Like right about now with Ryan and Chris, you know, we, we, we're getting the full circle, 360 degrees. Cause look, let me tell you, your business ain't going nowhere if mama ain't happy. So here we go. These are in no order. It's actually a 58 of the best mother's day gifts. I'm like, damn, it's a lot of, we're going to do top 10. We're going to keep it simple. Yeah. So we're going to go straight to the top and Chris, I want your reactions here. You know, you're, we're getting this fresh off the presses.

So Chris is going to react to agree or disagree on these gift lists for mom. Number 10, a gift subscription to Wantable for the new mom trying to learn how to dress her body after growing and birthing a human. Take my word for it, that is not an easy task. She can choose an edit, take a quick quiz, then later on Wantable stylists do the heavy lifting for them.

All the edits will be delivered to their door, including seven items selected just for them. They'll have five days to try everything on and decide whether they want to keep exchange or return them. There are a bunch of paired down themes to choose from like mom mode or April light, aka spring themed area options. Get it from wantable starting at $25. So sounds cool. Not for my mom. No more babies. I think she's I

don't think she needs any more maternity clothes. Yeah, it sounds like this sounds like mom like, if you're like, my wife just had it if we just had a new baby, which can't is is not possible. I will know it's time for me to leave if my wife gets pregnant. It's not feasible. I'll leave that there. But I will say I think it is for those new moms. We do have all kinds of moms. Chris, your mom and I, my mom are probably a little older, but some are new moms like just had a baby. So we got the whole gamut here. Basically, let's just to break it down. And I've done these services where they send you clothes,

you try them on, you keep what you want, send it back. It's actually pretty convenient. Only problem I had is I'm a weird size man. I don't like it. I like to try it on the store. I'm a double size, man. I don't like it. I like to try it on the store. I'm a double XL slim fit guy. I don't have a big waist. I'm just big broad dude and-

You're like a wrestler. Yeah, I'm the, I need the wrestler fit, the athletic wrestler fit. And they don't, you have to go try that shit on, unfortunately. So anyway, but it, hey, it is convenient. Number nine, healed mule sandals unfortunately. So anyway, but it, it is convenient. Number nine, healed mule sandals with braided straps. You have to see

it to believe it. We'll have this. You got to watch the video. Team's going to have this overlaid. These things are pretty cool looking. I tell you what, let's say my wife, it's not big, sandals, the spring spring number eight, a pickleball tote bag. Okay. A specific attachment to store paddles plus ample space for balls and accessories. So she can focus on crushing her smack talking neighbor, Karen. I like that. My mom would dig that. All right. I mean, I love that. My mom would dig that. All right.

I mean, not to get on the sidebar, but that pickle balls can all be still popping. You know, it's, we got to took pickle ball court right here. We're at social house, my cowork lounge on the swamp rabbit trail in Greenville and pickle park. One of our exclusive partners actually is right across the street. Chris pickle ball in G Vegas right here on the swamp rabbit trail We're gonna have to hit it when I'm up there Dude, I've never played. Well, there's always a first baby. I'm good at ping-pong though

Hey, you're you're gonna be a big man on a little court You'll probably great cuz you got you got a lot of you can get a lot of each Can I carry two paddles cover a cover a lot of ground, brother. Oh yeah. How about, I'm not slow either for my size, you know, in my head. Okay. Number seven, staying with this theme, Chris, a pickleball set to pay homage to her new favorite hobby.

It comes with two paddles, four balls, and a bag to ensure she has the best looking gear of all her competitors Hey, it's from remember get it from Amazon for 3299 Hey, it's all about value here on right about now in your top ten best gifts for mom from Mother's Day number six waterproof wireless earbuds She'll happily take on as her new workout buddy and adore for how the digital display will let her know precisely how much battery is left on. Is left.

Oh, and did I mention they're pink? Glenda is squealing somewhere over the rainbow. Ooh. Uh, these are fun. Only 25.95 on Amazon. Good deal. Good sound. They hold a charge for long periods, and I don't have to worry about them losing power. That was the quote from one of the reviews. And they're pink. Oh, I'm liking this. A dazzling tennis bracelet. No one would guess cost you less than 20 bucks. It's 14 karat gold plated, has a reliable clasp, unlike those unreliable clasps.

No way he likes those. And will add the perfect amount of sparkle to her daily stack. That's an interesting way to call it. Sparkle to her daily stack, I guess, of bracelets. Well, that's what women call when they wear multiple bracelets. I know you're into the jewelry thing. You could plug that now if you'd like. I got daily stack, I guess of bracelets. That's what women call when they wear multiple bracelets. I know you're in a jewelry thing. You could plug that now if you'd like. I got a stack, guys. Yeah. You didn't.

You double up. Chris also has some access. So hit him up on Instagram. Oh yeah, lab grown diamonds, Envy diamonds. Give me a shout if you need any custom jewelry. Chris Brobee Hansen on Instagram. Go hit him in the DMs. He gives you that bling bling behind the scenes. It's taking care of real good price.MS. He gives you that, that bling bling behind the scenes. He's taking care of real good price.

Yeah. It's beautiful stuff actually. I'm a big fan. Very tasteful. Buzzfeed writer Emma Lord loves this brand. It's the Cassidy. Was that the name of the brand? No, what's the name of the brand? Didn't say.

Anyway, she loves it. Just go to Amazon and search for dazzling tennis bracelet, 14 karat gold plated, reliable clasp. It'll come up. It looks pretty nice though, I will say that. I bought this bracelet to wear with my watch. It looks like the real deal, sparkling. I feel like I'm wearing diamonds. Easy to put on and take off. There's your review. And only $17.95.

That looks like I might get my mom. Yeah. All right. Oh, now we're really stepping it up, Chris. Number four, a facial steamer for moms who adore soaking up the steam from too hot and too short showers. What? I don't know what that means. This little machine will let her reap those same benefits after the kiddos finally go to sleep creates nano ionic. Two of my favorite words in one nano ionic steam that penetrates the skin to salt and hydrate, open up pores,

increase your bank account, take care of the kids. I mean, it's got so many benefits. I don't even know what to do and helps relieve sinus congestion. Go figure. That's what I thought. That was why I was looking first one's going to be. That's probably definitely does. Facial steamer. This woman looks in misery. The picture you got to see this. Yeah. That's why you got to watch YouTube. We're going to have the team put these up only 39.95 also at Amazon. This today's episode brought to you by Amazon shopping.

Yeah, literally. Number three, we're getting down to it. Poems of parenting, a book of relatable poems. They'll have any newer season parrot laughing, crying and feeling all the things. Poems of parenting. You know, roses are red, violets are blue. I never knew how much of a pain.

Okay, I'll stop there. Ryan is right. How about you? Yes, this book moved me deeply. It echoed so many of my own thoughts and experiences in such a tender, thoughtful way. Some poems made me laugh. Others brought me to tears, but all of them reminded me of the rich, messy, wonderful humanity of parenting. That's a fake review

Those that's Mariah Menzee Review on Amazon is because I knew what you were gonna say next because I'm like that's what I would write if this was faking it Chad CBT wrote a fake review on Amazon. That would be it T wrote a fake review on Amazon. That would be it. 1999 though, for that book of poems, I'll charge you nothing. I mean, you call me and I'll give you all you need. I'm good at poem writing. Pun writing a portable number HP photo printers number two. Now we're getting to the good stuff. Chris top two. For anyone who

has this is actually fun. I like this a lot for moms because you always, you know, we've gotten to this digital world and you still want the physical photos. Like you want to stick it somewhere. You don't have to dig through your phone every time for anyone who hasn't had the time to finish up her kiddos, baby book or make an album dedicated to the last European vacation. No need to log onto another site to order photos or gasp. Go pick them up in an actual store. This guy that will promptly print all of her pics directly from their phone. Plus each photo has a sticky backing that'll make them easy to pop into a book or stick to the refrigerator.

I'm talking about features. 79.99. Reasonable. It's a printer for God sakes people. It's not bad. The gas. I didn't even have to hear. I heard the gas, you know, Ooh, $80, $80. Compared to everything else.

It sounds expensive. Births you. Damn it. You can buy her a damn $79 printer. I watched four boys come. Let me just tell you, they deserve a lot more than a $70 printer. I was tired of running to the store for a few pictures and waiting for half an hour.

This is what I decided to try, and it was super easy. A no-brainer. I loved it. And it didn't take much effort to make a project for my kids. Another fake review on Amazon, but it's $79.99. I like it. That'd be my favorite. Cheaper than ordered them.

Drum roll please for number one on our BuzzFeed Top 10 Gifts for Mom in 2025, a pop-up Mother's Day card. It's so one your mother will absolutely adore, especially she's a sucker for a handwritten card and has a box under the bed with each and every one she ever received. This thing pops up and it's like a big bouquet. Bouquet, bouquet, however, what do you want to say it? You should know better than the hand mother, the mother figure in your life, a mother's day gift without a card.

Paper Love is a small business that makes these cards. It essentially opens, it's like bouquet of flowers. Where do I get that? That'd be Amazon, sponsor of all of all of these $11 and 89 cents. Nice. And this comes to us from Amazon customer. That's their first and last name. My wife prominently displayed the pop-up bouquet

in our Easter family dinner. That's interesting. How did she do it on Easter? My mother's day days after Easter, this is already fake and receive rave reviews. This isn't my first purchase and including my mother's day card for tomorrow won't be my last. It's a winner. So says Amazon last name customer. I'm here for the gifts, not for the reviews, but portable HP photo printer sounded pretty tight.

Poems I could pass on the face steamer. Eh, maybe the dazzling tennis brace. That sounds like the winner of the deal. 1795, unless you're going to splurge and go for the good stuff. Yeah. Bang for your buck for sure. And then, you know, wireless waterproof earbuds for 25 bucks that sound pretty good.

Not bad. Not bad. They're pink. We'll lose them. And then the pickle ball set. I mean, two, two rackets and a bag for like 32 bucks. Come on. They might break after I hit one of them. I'm probably like

deployed in my hand, but Maybe not who knows there's your top 10 list Buzzfeed Cop 10 Mother's Day gifts for 20 25, you know We all know it's a little light on the news when that leads off the segment, but we're trying to make this about Value and giving you what you need. Not always what you want. There's some news with Amazon this week that both thought were pretty interesting.

Number one, they've created robots that can feel touch and they're going to replace you in the warehouse, even though they say they're not. Let's be honest, that's coming. They will. Do you believe that? I saw this. Not to replace the humans. But I'm honest, that's coming. They will. Do you believe that? I saw this, not to replace the humans, but I'm like, then what is it for? What is it for?

Oh, just the dangerous jobs. Okay. Yeah. Who's deciding that? Amazon says new warehouse robot can feel items, but it won't replace workers. Yeah. And money won't buy things. I mean, like, you know,

you can feel things that pretty sure it's gonna replace a lot more than just jobs at Amazon. It sounds so unthreatening to the Vulcan robot. Is it all is it on Spock's in that Spock from Star Trek's like Homeland Vulcan. I think so. I'm not throwing out my old school Star Trek knowledge. You know, it was a tricky digit, Chris. Not in Vulcan robot, but he's not taking your job.

If you're going to make him a non job taking robot, let's call him like Petey. Yeah. Literally going to say Peter. Ralph, you know? Yeah. I literally was going to say Peter. Like, Ralph. You know? Yeah. I mean, but Vulcan. Non-threatening friendly robot that can feel, take jobs and pet dogs. You know, whatever it's going to do, it's going to take your job. Vulcan is designed to reduce worker injuries is what they're saying.

They're handling top shelf stuff, leaving humans to operate in the safer power zone. It's only going to use the top shelf stuff, Chris. Not not the middle and the bottom. Oh, wow. I'm okay. I like the innovation. I still like the bullshit. Like, yeah, come on. Come on. You know, I was born

two days ago, but not yesterday. And then in other news with Amazon, Zucks to scale up robo taxi production, US expansion. All right, Uber. So, you know, 10, 15 years ago was Uber throwing taxis through a loop. And then now it's going to be the robot taxis throw an Uber for a loop. Uber needs to get ahead of this. You know, I don't know what I do get into Uber without the unfriendly smelly driver though.

That experience over air freshened, sticky backseat, smelly somewhat unfriendly driver. That's kind of the whole experience, isn't it? Luckily, I've been pretty lucky, but. Yeah, you get the friendly smell. The smell is real though. The air fresheners is. And it may not even be the driver.

It just might be the last 10 people that have ridden. You don't ever know. Yeah. He gets, he gets blamed. He or she gets blamed for all the smells in the car. Could be the freaking drunk girls with pizza at 2 a.m. getting dropped off, you know? Zooks. That's his name after Zuckerberg. Zooks. No. Z-O-O-X. Amazon. They're all over my neighborhood. Really? Dude. They're all about driving taxis? Everywhere. They've been testing them in my neighborhood for the last two years. Have you gotten in one? No, because they're not for people yet. They've got like four guys in them with laptops and they have all these sensors all over the cars. They're like Toyota Land Cruisers or something. Not all these sensors all over the cars. They're like

Toyota Land Cruisers or something, not Land Cruisers, smaller than that, but they literally just circle the block every day. So they're mapping it out. Obviously they're testing and kind of mapping it on a micro scale. So far around two dozen test vehicles have been deployed across six US cities. You must be one of them. Oh, they're going all day. I'll send you a picture today, dude. I'm going to send you a video. You can put in the episode. We'll put it in there. Public ride services are expected to launch in Las Vegas

this year, followed by San Francisco. The expansion aligns with Trump's administration's push to accelerate self-driving tech by easing certain safety regulations. Oh, that's promising. Yeah. Which, which, uh, safety regulations are we easing up on? The industry remains under scrutiny with us regulators investigating safety issues

among major players, including Zooks. Yeah. And they're not going to replace any jobs either. That's a lot, bro. The robots are coming. They're here. They're here. They've come. They're the alien that didn't even have to come in the atmosphere. You know, we created it. We created them. All for progress. I got to see some testing on this, you know, for getting the car of that robot. I mean, I'm not a complete control freak, but at least partially one.

And I just got to see that baby not, you know, go haywire. If you can hack into a, you know, mainframe, tell me you can't hack into a freaking robo taxi. You can. Then you weaponize. The cars have become the new like weapons of mass destruction. So what happens when robo cop taxi, you know, goes 100 miles an hour into a crowd of people. That's called a missile. Literally. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Let me get him one. I mean, no, I'm not. This is innovation technology.

I'm not like scared of innovation technology. I'm an innovative dude, but I just have kind of a common sense guy too. Like, okay, I need, I need to see the data on this. We'll see. Maybe that Vulcan robot says he's got feel he can get in there and drive. He's so safe and unassuming and not taking any jobs. You know, to put him in the car. The Vulcan Zooks driver. Oh God, I need to help these people with their naming. I think all the good names are taken. I mean, these companies have to ultra like make sure there's no trademarks on anything like that. You don't know that everyone everyone has to but

Amazon especially. So we'll see. Interest rates are staying the same. Chris, you know, people smarter than me know that's the right thing, but I'll tell you what, it's just kind of like that. We just speed it up a bit, you know? Yeah. Can we speed this up a little bit? Let's get this interest down, get some money back in the markets, refis. So houses moving.

I mean, the house market is still okay, but softening. And so, time, baby. They got to see what they say. What's up with crypto? It's holding steady. I mean, it had that kind of 15 percentage pump like two weeks ago, I think it was,

and now it's just kind of holding steady. Still under 100K. But it's like everything else, man, right? Just like interest rates. It's like everything else, man. Right. Just like interest rates. It's like a pause on everything. Yeah. The, uh, my XRP is, is hanging around $2.15. It's like, if you look at it, it looks like we talked to this last week, just every other stock, just kind of straight line, like, I guess you don't want to

divert, I mean, you don't want it, but like, I'm ready for that thing to pump. No, I'm ready for freaking. Yeah. It's just, I want the new bottom to be like 10, you know, then, then as this starts, probably threshold, you know, it's got to get to, we'll see. I'm in it for the long haul. I think I'm going to buy some Bitcoin though. I think it's time to get in. Everybody, it's gotten to be like so mainstream, like dudes that never would have thought are like pumping it. Yeah. I think at this point, it's fair to say it's an accepted investment vehicle.

And it feels safer than a lot of other stuff. But I mean, look, the big guy, look, Amazon. It feels at least equal to the stock market. Yeah. Like Bitcoin, not all crypto, but I think safe to say Bitcoin is gonna be just as safe as any of your stock plays, unless you're day trading and you got a whole different game you're playing.

Exactly. If you were gonna buy one other crypto other than Bitcoin, what would be number two? For me, it would be the Solana or Dogecoin. So Dogecoin still? Yeah, I'm still a fan of Doge. I think that'll rip some too. Has that gained any ground? It's everything's pretty uniform. You know, it all follows Bitcoin's lead really.

But there's definitely just like the stock, there's some up and coming startup type cryptos. I mean, people can look into it. You can look on, you know, Coinbase even will tell you what's kind of hot and what's trending. And it's a good time to do your research, really learn the market before it starts running again. I'm reading if there's any final hot headlines before we close out here. You know, we do pre-record this want to make sure we get you all of the latest. I mean, we got you the mother's day top 10. I mean, let's be honest. That's probably the most supportive thing.

If we're just talking about your short-term, all this other stuff. Let's see here. XRP just broke key six months support against Bitcoin. That's good. Markets starting to wake up again. I think that's all the biggest news. I mean, we could talk about terrorists. We're not going to talk about terrorists.

China and the US are meeting. They're going to get it together. Smarter, cooler heads will prevail, I believe. And you know, let's, let's get out of the tariff talk finally. So, but I will mention our trading card series will be starting up next week. So we've got some big hitters in the trading card business. You've seen us, seen me, Chris had to watch me, you know, from afar opening packs, getting jealous of all the hits I'm getting, but I still got to send Chris some. We'll figure that out. Where's my assistant? Need a reminder.

All serious, this is going to be an $8 billion industry and growing. You've got everything from Pokemon to football cards, baseball cards, hockey cards, basketball. V friends, our good friend Gary V just launched that with tops and the fanatics brand and everything that they do. It's incredible how many people are in this business and how much opportunity there is for investment and growth. It is a big key part of business. It is truly an investment vehicle. So we're starting kicking

that off next week. We've got a lineup of guests. We've got one of the largest app makers for managing your collection and scanning them in. Luddx, Ryan Luddin, amazing guy, cool guy. We've hit it off. It's a great episode. Kicking it off with that. We go, we go from all layers. We got the top from the apps. We got wholesale retail and ground floor, the largest dealer in South Carolina. As one of the best stores here in Greenville. Brian's sports cards and more.

My good friend, Maddie Rich came on, talked it down. I got to the, we, again, I talked about some of the biggest hitters at like the biggest brands and then all the way to the ground floor of retail. So we got it all covered of what that is happening in the industry, the trends, the key things and stuff that's too big to ignore.

So I'm pumped about that and pumped about some partnerships I've got coming with the Rad Collective. My boys and I got into it. We've got a lot of things going on, live selling on whatnot, Breaking Rad. It's how you find us, breakingrad.com and all the stuff happening with trading cards. It's fun, but it's real business

and it's a lot of damn money, Chris, in this industry. It's crazy how much money is being pumped into it. And just the amount of money spent, man, these are scratch off cards for kids, but they actually hold value. Scratch off card is only worth either, you know, what $500 or nothing. Ferry cards, at least you still have some value

in your hand. I'm gonna get Chris back into it. He had to get out his 1992 Fleer leaf set or whatever he's got, who knows. Oh, when I get to my parents' house, I'm gonna to get Chris back into it. He had to get out his 1992 Fleer Leaf set or whatever he's got. Who knows? Oh, when I get to my parents' house, I'm going to find that. You got to take some pictures. You got to send those to me. Oh, well, there's some winners in there, brother.

Oh yeah. I love it. So yes, that's coming. And of course, if you're listening to this, you've probably heard us talk about the Radcast network. If you're thinking about starting a podcast or you've already started one, your struggle, get all, got a lot of ways to help you grow, check out theradcastnetwork.com for more

for how we can help you get your show off the ground and grow with a growing network, one of the fastest growing independent networks in the country, radcastnetwork.com. Chris, any final words today here on Mother's Day weekend, May 9th? Love your mom, man. She brought you into this world, give her a hug

and shower her with love and affection. Yes. And maybe it tastes just like her. If she's your mom, if she bore your children, you know, give her that day off. It's always funny to me, you know, like mom's day. Okay, they get to hang out with the kids. Mom should be like at the spa or something.

You're at the spa day. Think waterproof earbuds on Amazon. Yeah. Yes, that pickleball set. Don't forget about it. You don't forget about us, Ryanisright.com. Highlight clips, links to all our sponsors, and of course, links to our social media. Chris Burby Hansen on Instagram, I'm at Ryan Alford on all the social

channels. We'll see you next time or right about now. This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening!