Episode 82 – Better Than Fridge Magnets

The Michaels welcome Ian Hughes (AKA – ePredator) to the show this week to discuss developing simulation games for hospital emergency staff. Michael M. connects up from his hotel room in Hong Kong (we apologies for his audio quality in advance), we also have Ian Hughes from sunny Basingstoke. Ian has been working on building a hospital simulator on Unity3D using Photon, and discusses with us the technological challenges of dealing with various language implementations. We also discuss the challenges of getting started with coding, given that today people need to do fully understand all aspects of the solution, and not just programming in one language or model.

Ian describes how to make a realistic simulation, he need to write a telephone system, a collaborative documents system, and screaming patients.

We end the show with a discussion of augmented reality, virtual mirrors, and Choi Kwang Do marshal arts.

Show Links:
The History of Basingstoke
Imperial Hospital Emergency simulator
Unity 3D
Photon for Unity
Basingstoke Choi Kwang Do
Choi Kwang Do – Marshal Arts

Ian’s latest work:
@epredator
Life at the Feeding Edge
The Secret Agent is on whose side?
Flush Magazine articles

Episode 81 – One Step Beyond

This week the Michael’s talk about a few cool things that they’ve been up to over the last two weeks. Michael M. talks about how augmented reality can be used in the modern manufacturing facility. While Michael R. Talks about augmented reality is being experienced with his new set of Google Glass. And then we take it ONE STEP BEYOND into 3D Printing! Drop us comments on your thoughts on any of our social sites, including this blog!

Show Links:
Hannover Messe
SmartFactoryOWL
Cement Pond
Training Robots
Don’t be a GlassHole
Five Days with Glass
Glass-Glasses Adapter
Filament Mount
Printing 10 houses in a day
3d House Printer

Episode 80 – ExtraLife!

Phaedra and Michael R. Talk about Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR, and what it may mean for gaming. We also speculate on what Facebook may do with this new technology, as well as what other players may be in the game worth watching. Michael discusses his experience with the Glyph at MacWorld this year. And while Michael get’s a number wrong, how much has been invested in Oculus already, we correct it in the links below.We then look at Prediction markets and if the wisdom of crowds is actually smarter than the CIA?

We end the show with a few quick interviews with the team at Extra-Life.org. Check them out!

Show Links:
Occulus Rift Acquired by Facebook
Occulus VR Investment to date
Avegant
Glyph
Sony VR Headset
Smarter than a CIA Agent?
Prediction Markets
Wisdom of Crowds
Chore-inator for kids
BabiIs
Age of Context – by Robert Scobble and Shae Israel
Extra-Life – Gaming to help Kids
Michael’s Day by Day Account of MacWorld
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Episode 79 – Insert Witty Title Here

2014-03-23-9f3f51b5– by Foxtrot
The Michaels are back this week, even though the day jobs are catching us all and consuming more and more time. We are feeling it in our reduction of gaming that we can do – so we followup on last week’s blog post on games Michael R. is no longer playing. During the course of our discussion, Michael M. decides that he too should post a blog post on the games that he is no longer play too. What is the tipping point that makes a game no longer fun? Should a game for work be fun, or just engaging? Speaking of engagement, we then look at how the NCAA drives more engagement into the game of basketball during March Madness. Including the crazy new contest with Warren Buffet and Quicken Loans “Perfect Bracket” game. Does basketball really need more engagement (Michael R)? Can basketball get more engagement (Michael M)?

Michael R. doesn’t really think that quarter end and tournament brackets don’t align very well, due to the winner take all / win lose situation that tournaments promote verses the quarter end drive to ship products. Michael M. looks at how this is true for traditional periodic events, however, when there is a major event (non-repeating) there are good opportunities to use a tournament push. We also look at the various different motivational / reward systems which make the most sense for the appropriate business event. When do you like to play the Grinding games verses the Big Event games? Which aligns best to your work environment? We would love to hear from you on the games that engage you the most.

Show Links:
Games I am no longer playing
World Of Warcraft – Time Travel Expansion
Time Travel Games
Nest Smoke Alarm
Systems of Engagement
The Last Perfect Bracket Fails
Hannover Messe:Industrial Automation, Energy, Industrial Supply Chain and more Conference
MacWorld Expo