Episode 246 — Ninja Stealth Robots

A pair of Boston Dynamics robots catch Michael & Michael’s attention this week — Atlas, with it’s amazing (and quiet!) ninja parkour capabilities, and Spot, now being made available to the market.  

Several cool applications are part of this week’s program, from High Fidelity’s app to create VR avatars, to celebrity voices for Alexa & TomTom navigation, to improving your surfing skills via Surfline, to making better consumer choices in the grocery store with Yuka and Seafood Watch, and tracking the value of the time spent in meetings with our very own cohost Michael Rowe’s WastedTime app.

An interesting account of a couple’s backstory and costume construction for their vacation to Disney’s recently opened Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge sparks a conversation on how entertainment is evolving to become more and more immersive.

Surf on over, dive right in, and give this episode a listen!

Selected Links

Tech Crunch article: Atlas the humanoid robot shows off a new and improved gymnastics routine — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/atlas-the-humanoid-robot-shows-off-a-new-and-improved-gymnastics-routine/ 

Wired article: Spot, the 4-Legged Robot, Is Ready to Go for a Walk — https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-424/ 

Parkour — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour 

Venture Beat article: High Fidelity’s new mobile app turns your selfies in to VR avatars — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/22/high-fidelitys-new-mobile-app-turns-your-selfies-into-vr-avatars/ 

High Fidelity — https://www.highfidelity.com 

High Fidelity movie — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/ 

USA today article: Amazon to offer Samuel L. Jackson voice for Alexa.  He’ll curse, if you want — https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/09/25/samuel-l-jackson-first-celebrity-voice-amazon-alexa/2447992001/ 

Samuel L. Jackson – celebrity voice for Alexa — https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-L-Jackson-celebrity-voice/dp/B07WS3HN5Q 

TomTom Mr. T voice — https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/drive/maps-services/shop/navigation-voices/mr-t/ 

Kotaku article: Three Months of Prep Made Our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Trip Amazing — https://kotaku.com/three-months-of-prep-made-our-star-wars-galaxys-edge-t-1838364921 

CNet article: Star Wars meets ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ in epic geeky parody — https://www.cnet.com/news/star-wars-meets-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-geeky-musical-parody/ 

Man of Many article: Surfline Sessions and an Apple Watch Can Record You Surfing — https://manofmany.com/outdoors/surf/surfline-sessions-and-an-apple-watch-can-record-you-surfing 

Yuka — https://yuka.io/en/ 

Science Friday September 27, 2019 The Latest IPCC Report: A Global Warning On Ice and Oceans — https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/september-2019-ipcc-report-ice-oceans/ 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app — https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/our-app 

Drive article: New South Wales drivers using phones behind the wheel are in the firing line, with the state to permanently roll out its phone-detection cameras — https://m.drive.com.au/news/nsw-phone-monitoring-cameras-going-live-this-year-122500.html 

Nintendo LABO Builders tweet

Yay! You can play #GRIDautosport with the steering wheel and the joystick from #NintendoLABO Vehicle Kit! 🚗📦🏁

Built your own configuration thanks to the wide range of options delivered by @feralgames team 😍👌
So fun! Find the Scheme below 😉🕹 pic.twitter.com/CpyddDvRHe

— Nintendo LABO Builders (@LaboBuilders) September 21, 2019

Nintendo LABO — https://labo.nintendo.com 

WastedTime Watch! app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wastedtime-watch/id1478660347 

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