Episode 207 – Artificial Security

This weekend, the song “Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol must have played on the Eighties on Eight on Sirius Radio at least three times, and seems like a great way to introduce this week’s show.     Michael and Michael start off dealing with the challenging issues of security & privacy where biometrics are starting to be used in US airports to speed international flight identity checks.  Moving from facial recognition to facial mimicry, and maybe a little creepiness, the co-hosts take a look at SEER, the Simulative Emotional Expression Robot, which conveys an enormous set of feelings … Continue reading

Episode 200 – Eye in the Sky

Michael and Michael take a second podcast to 200 episodes with this show, and celebrate in a very appropriate way — and with no spoilers for Han Solo movie, nor spiders, and almost avoid talking about things that people put in/on their eyes. Starting out with a follow on from last week’s show, Michael and Michael explore the GDPR compliant National Public Radio website, which is devoid of pictures, and very nearly looks like you would expect a radio station to be online.   Then, it’s on to drones — one that can follow a car driving around, and another … Continue reading

Episode 188 – Star Wars Bucks

With the opening of the latest installation of the Star Wars saga this weekend, Michael and Michael start off this episode, recorded a week earlier, with the new AR capabilities of the Star Wars app.  Michael M, being the enterprising person that he is, boldly managed to try this out by loading up the image on a website to allow the AR experience to work. The newest Starbucks opened in Shanghai and in addition to being the largest in the world, coming in at 30,000 sq ft, is also AR-enabled.  Visitors to this Starbucks can walk around with their AR-enabled … Continue reading

Episode 187 – Bionic Eye

On an unseasonably warm Friday, Michael & Michael get together to discuss a sports to business application of virtual reality, that of training retail store employees to prepare for the oncoming rush of bargain hunters on Black Friday instead of the rush of oncoming defensive backs. A favorite topic of ours — augmented reality use methods — resurfaces in this episode, this time prompted by the recent Apple acquisition of a Canadian AR company called VRVANA, which leads to a conversation about miniaturization of this technology, ultimately embedding into bionic contact lenses, or even a potential direct optic nerve connection.  … Continue reading