this week on "press:here," are we going to need more christmas tree. computers struggle to get face recognition right, especially people among colors. we'll get some good news from the ceo and david lowry, what he's looking for to fund next. that's this week on "press:here." good morning, i am scott mcgrew. one of the things that make

silicon go around is seems like everyone knows each other or knows somebody who knows somebody. keep that up long enough and your network really falls into place. my first guest tonight 20 years or so when he was a young entrepreneur creating software called x-file, david lowry would start in a small company known as google and now known as capital g. i understand business insider categorize you as one of the coolest people. i believe you are at 83. >> i am trying to crawl my way up. >> you are in the top 100. >> before we start talking about

venttu venture capitol, i want you to tell me what you remember about x-fire. >> it was nice memory. 2002 was a totally different era in silicon valley, one of the things i remember we were paying $1 per square foot per rent. and it was in a lot of ways an easier time to start business because you can get talents quite easily and because i just moved here, i gotten how much disruption the area had gone through in the downturn and people were super bearish, not taking meetings to press.

>> well, that's why i had it written down in one of the questions, i am going to skip ahead to it. six or seven years have been bullish. all of a sudden right now we have a pandemic, we have a very uncertain election, maybe the polls show one way or another but still a lot of uncertainty around that. what was the business climate for you? >> it is mixed. for some companies, disruption is extremely painful and for other businesses it is a huge opportunity. we have so much change going on as we do right now. we have the opportunity to really innovate. >> one of the things you are doing over capital g which is

google venture capital that you help find, are you backing off now because of the uncertainty? >> i have been active and definitely investing in our portfolio companies, encore and halburt and making new investments. i would say we are pretty active. >> okay, some of your famous acquisition, lyft and air bnb. which ones are you most proud of as far as investor capital g. one of our biggest returns continue to crush it and robert hood and kredit karma.

ly lyft, there is a lot -- really all of these companies are trying to do something significant and you know kind of take you and make education available. all of these companies are trying to do something significant and that's really the journey. >> what are the things you are looking for when you are deciding on who to invest in, in leadership. what are you seeing in the leaders of the company you invest in that you like? >> i mean, you know, the results and tennacity. logan green, the ceo of lyft, he has the most profound vision of

the future of transportation that i have been exposed to. i had the luxury of being exposed of the great thinking. he does not lose perspective for the near terms and what strengths he's trying to portray and that's unbelievable to watch. >> what's the most recent acquisition? >> one of mine is halburt, a small company based in l.a., helping people automate their savings and expense management. >> i think one of the reasons is that more and more people are

very, very comfortable banking on their telephone. obviously to me and silicon valley sounds like a no brainer, for the rest of america, this is a new phenomenal. >> it is kind of like people signing up and you start seeing the benefits technologies automatically and athat's what the promise is. it is a convenient but also a lot better. >> what are you excited in the futu future? what sort of ideas are you chasing down? >> later i am thinking of the future of work and working at home. if you think about just 10% of knowledge workers working from home, how transformative it is of all part of the business.

a lot of meetings are meetings for benefits or whatever group meeting is happening at the company now needs to handle people online or offline. hopefully this is done in a wait that's better than today of what we are experiencing of the camera and microphone. >> you said transformative, the idea that i would do a tv show which i have been doing for 10 or 15 years from my home office. by the way, i am the one changing the camera as i look down every once in a while because i have to look at the control panel to make sure where i got everything going. it is extraordinary that the technology exists to make this possible. it is just amazing. >> yeah. i think it is like the beginning of the television where you had television personality still thinking they're dealing with a radio and kind of talking in front of the camera as opposed to really thinking of the

different medium yand i think where we are going to see the computers sitting between us is a lot more power in the years ahead. i think we are really seeing companies -- >> are you looking to invest there or just an idea you are excited about? >> we do think about these things and the best opportunity. >> david lawee, the founder of capital g. we appreciate you being with us. if you are interested in more about capital g. including how it got started in this relationship with google, we covered it in our podcast. "press:here" will be right back.

welcome back to "press:here." if you are my family, you are still up in the air as what you are going to do for the holiday? do you travel? and what about older members? or do we go over to grandmother's house or do we do everything on skype? we celebrate christmas in my family. nobody is sure if the grandparents should put up a tree if we are all coming or should we get our own tree. among them is matt harmon, the ceo of folsom hill christmas

trees. one of the best christmas trees out there. i am not going to say merry christmas because you know it is still october, right? >> it sure is. it feels a little early. >> but for people who's thinking about buying christmas trees this year, you are in the sort same of quandaries as recome up to halloween here that manufactures are not sure what's supposed to happen or how many you should make of these things. >> it is. we have a double whammy this year, we are seeing unprecedented interests, our sales been off the roof. and at the same time we have this challenge of shipping networks are having all these extra packages shipped because of coronavirus and people are doing more ecommerce business. they're at network capacity and our carriers are telling us they're not able to deliver everything.

it is a big decision and one that people need to make sooner or later. >> i had not thought about that this idea of there would not be enough counthristmas trees. if we don't go to my parents or my sisters and everyone else would have to get their own trees. this idea that channels the shipping channels are completely jammed. we are seeing people who are making their decisions now about what they're going to do for the holiday. my family and all the grandparents on the east coast and they decided the last couple of weeks they're not coming out, people are thinking about christmas. i got a text last night from friends putting up their christmas tree and it feels so early but in this year we are living in, people are looking

for joy. >> we sell ornaments and all those things. we are seeing triple sales in record, not just trees but with decor and people are ready to 2020 to come to an end sooner. >> when i realize i was going to be a stay-at-home and work at home for a long time, i have been working on a flat picnic table, i said to myself i am going to get myself a real desk and turns out there is a shortage in desks and as well as gym equipment as well and who would have thought of christmas trees? >> folsom hills known for artificial trees. we already placed orders for christmas 2021. we are trying to get as many as we can.

we want as many customers to experience that joy through us this year. we are pulling forward orders. they can cut more trees down but there are so many trees you can cut down. your arms get tired and i think there is going to be a shortage and i hope everyone gets the tree. the tree that people really want is going to be an early year and specifically for ecommerce, the sooner the better of the shipping delays. the retail store is more availability and a little longer and with folsom hills this year, we partnered with nordstrom where people can pick out a tree in the tree lot and we ship it home to them. >> you realize that this is out in san francisco, you realize that you are one of the largest

retailers and e-tailers in the bay area? >> we are. we got operations around the world and we ship trees to our customers and europe and australia and here in north america and we are based here in the bay area. it is a great place to be in. we do the best that we can to bring joy to as many people as we can this time of the year. >> i guess my last question for you is that tree behind you there year round because of the industry you are in? >> it is not. my kids no longer think it is weird when i put a tree out in october. sometimes i am so busy that i don't get it down until march or april. i got it up last week. just getting a little bit ahead of the curve. >> you are way ahead of the curve. >> matt harmon, thank you for

being with us. "press:here" will be back.

welcome back to "press:here," i am scott mechanic grmcgrew. several studies including the universities of montreal and texas shows many races have trouble telling other people from other races. a visitor from china may run into the same problem as an american visiting china. the actress lucy liu says sometimes she's mistaken for the reporter lisaling. samuel jackson is confused for lawrence fish bu lawrence fishburn. if human beings are bad, imagine

how bad computers are. software that recognizes human faces. his own data shows his computers are almost four times likely to confuse a person with an african background caucasian. you said your programmer made it 60 times less likely to happen. you made incredible progress. how did you make it better and why are those computers still struggling? >> the focus is around your id. when you compare them to customers being registered whether africa or asia tend to

be darker skin. the accuracy is less. we recognize the difference and we put the program in place, with the regulator enables of privacy and improvement. we were able to improve the accuracy on darker skin on individuals. so there is still a gap 60 times. >> how do you close the gap? >> there are a number of things, we classify individuals as darker skin and their skin tone where we classify of those

darker skin designed for that. it performs much better when it comes to accuracy. >> how do you test your machine and software, do you use actual people or photos? >> it is both. online or travel places. we verify people when they register. if there is a flag or accuracy, they're able to find the model to improve. >> the improvement mostly is made by humans, as i said at the top, humans are notoriously bad doing this as well. it increases the data set of people of different color and your computer getting better and

better at this. >> that's a key consideration. customizing it, all play a role in accuracy. >> being rejected for a car rental or a bank account is problemat problematic. this is bigger. the idea that computers have trouble with certain races more than they do others have really big implications particularly when they come to computers for instance that are looking at mug shots. >> more convenient to do it

onli online. [ inaudible ] >> in your home office of england, you are using it for food distribution and services as well and particularly with coronavirus where you don't have to go in person to identify yourself. this whole idea of taking a selfie where your computer match can speed that up. >> exactly. we are improving in a remote world. the numbers are small.

the consequence of accuracy is not being perfect. the question is more co consequential. >> thank you for being with us this morning. "press:here" will be right back.

>> that's our show for this week, my thanks to my guests. thank you for making us part of your sunday morning.

>> graeme: it's the second game of our premier league double-header on nbc this weekend. a welcome to the west midlands of england the home team, wolverhampton wanderers, in the old gold, coming off a terrific win at leeds on monday. they could leap into the top four with victory here newcastle united in the black and white stripes. they've traveled 225 miles southwest. steve bruce has injury issues. ke