1199: How CONVERSATIONAL UIs are the future – AND the present! w/ Yogesh Nagarkar

Unpickle: A Live Network Camera For Every Home

In a conversation that spans product design, cybersecurity and the future of conversational device control, entrepreneur Yogesh Nagarkar explains how Unpickle turns opaque home networks into readable, controllable systems. Born from decades of software and hardware experience, Unpickle is described as a "live network camera"—a physical router and app combination that shows exactly what devices are doing on your Wi‑Fi or wired network and lets you act on that information using plain text commands.

Why Home Networking Feels So Confusing

Most home routers hide traffic details behind technical settings or clumsy user interfaces. Parents and nontechnical users often give up before they find a way to control a child’s screen time, stop a suspicious device from uploading data, or block unwanted marketing trackers. Unpickle is designed to replace the typical consumer router with a mesh Wi‑Fi 6 system that surfaces live device behavior and network destinations, so anyone can manage connections without learning complicated menus.

How The Live Network Camera Works

Unpickle pairs a hardware device with an app that streams real‑time network activity. As soon as you open the app you see which devices are communicating, which external services they contact, and how much data they use. The interface groups destinations into actionable items so users can block specific URLs, block entire categories like marketing trackers, or dial in granular rules such as blocking GoogleVideo endpoints only. It’s designed to serve a broad audience, from parents controlling screen time to small business owners policing employee access.

Conversational Controls: Talk To Your Router

A major theme of the discussion is conversational interaction. Yogesh believes the future of device administration is language, not graphical menus. With Unpickle you can type or speak natural instructions—"Block social media 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays" or "Change Wi‑Fi password to xyz for daytime use"—and the router executes precise policies. That approach transforms network administration into a series of clear prompts, lowering the barrier for nontechnical users and enabling scheduled, temporary access controls.

Precision Matters When AI Controls Networks

Yogesh stresses that conversational controls must be precise: a poorly phrased instruction can cut off all internet connectivity, so Unpickle’s conversational layer is built to confirm intent and ask clarifying questions before applying high‑impact changes. This emphasis on careful prompt design and guardrails underlines an important privacy and security tradeoff when you let AI translate human language into firewall and DNS rules.

Where Unpickle Fits In The Market

Unpickle is currently focused on the consumer market, sold as a single device or as a mesh set on Amazon. Its core promise is democratized network administration: ordinary people get the same kinds of controls and visibility that used to be reserved for trained network administrators. Yogesh outlines a roadmap from b2c to b2b, envisioning a "constellation" view where multiple networks—offices, branch sites, or residential properties—are managed together with the same conversational controls and live visibility.

Use Cases: Parenting, Privacy, And Small Business

• Parents controlling social media and gaming time with scheduled rules and one‑line commands.
• Homeowners spotting unusual device activity and blocking suspicious destinations instantly.
• Small businesses enforcing work‑hours policies across employee devices without complex network administration.

Privacy, Marketing Trackers, And The Hidden Data Economy

One of the most eye‑opening elements of the interview is the description of how everyday websites embed marketing and tracking services that funnel device data to third parties. Unpickle gives users a window into those hidden connections and the ability to block them. Seeing the volume and variety of outbound connections on a typical router can shift a casual user's perspective on privacy, turning abstract warnings into concrete actions that improve privacy and reduce unwanted ads.

Founding Choices And The Entrepreneurial Journey

Yogesh funded early development with personal savings and iteratively tested hardware and software with friends and family before launching on Amazon. He describes the challenge of standing out on crowded retail platforms and earning customer trust while continuously improving firmware and the user experience. The origin of the name Unpickle, drawn from a Python programming concept, reflects the product’s mission to "unscramble" complex network data and present it intelligibly.

Looking Ahead: AI, Fine‑Tuned Prompts, And Enterprise Potential

Yogesh sees recent advances in artificial intelligence as the enabler for conversational network control. By fine‑tuning models to know router APIs and the consequences of policies, Unpickle can convert natural language into tested, safe system changes. He anticipates that further refinement will reduce reliance on human experts for network forensics and oversight, and he’s building toward enterprise features that aggregate and control multiple locations from a single interface.

Everyday Advice From A Builder

Across the conversation runs a piece of practical founder wisdom: keep learning. Yogesh emphasizes daily curiosity and experimentation as the engine that keeps an entrepreneur adaptable to new platforms, protocols, and threats. That mindset has guided Unpickle from hobby project to product offering and shapes its future development priorities.

Unpickle reframes the home router from a silent appliance into an active, understandable part of daily life: a live network camera paired with conversational controls, designed to expose marketing trackers, enable precise parental rules, and protect connected devices without requiring expert skills. By combining mesh Wi‑Fi 6 hardware with an app that speaks plain English, Unpickle aims to make network administration accessible and responsive. key_points