e365 – Pixel Perfect

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pixelated art
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e365: Pixel Perfect with stories on Life-Cal.com, @Reddit r/Place, $1m homepage & pixel flavored Coke, partnership w/ @LEGO_Group & @EpicGames, @LSWGame and a taste of mana from 2010.

Michael, Andy and Michael have a pixel perfect set of stories to share for this week’s episode.  The cohosts start things off with Life-Cal, a website which will produce a custom visualization of the weeks ahead to allow you to reflect on living a life well lived, week by week.  Other pixel themed topics include the Reddit r/Place timelapse, the Million Dollar Homepage, and a pixel-flavored Coke.

An AI thought experiment started a couple of weeks ago on how an AI agent may recommend when and how to break up with a partner, inspired this week’s article on how a broken relationship could be mended, also using an AI agent.  

In all things metaverse, the cohosts evaluate the LEGO & Epic partnership to create an environment friendly to young people.  This reminds the team of earlier forays (2010 – 2012) such as Lego Universe, and what’s been learned since then.  With the launch of the newest LEGO Star Wars franchise game, The Skywalker Saga, has Andy very excited, and Michael M is interested to get the Switch edition as well.  

The cohosts also revisit the “Vile in a Vial” experience of trying a mana potion while recording an episode of Dogear Nation back in 2010.  Give a listen to Dogear Nation episode 158 to hear Michael and Michael try the mana potions, which thankfully are no longer available for purchase.  

What’s your experience with Life-Cal?  Have you given The Skywalker Saga a try?   Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Life-Cal.com

Wikipedia article: Memento mori

Stylist article: The Ex Factor: the websites promising to mend your broken relationship

Games At Work episode 363 – Make A New Plan, Stan

The Verge article: Epic and Lego partner to build a metaverse for kids

Wikipedia article: Lego Universe 

The Verge article: Paramount won’t stop making Star Trek NFTs

Games Radar article: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga lets you fly by beating up young Anakin

Doom’s BFG9000

The Verge article: I tried the pixel-flavored Coke, and it Bytes

The Verge article: Watching the r/Place timelapse is like staring into the heart of Reddit

Million Dollar Homepage 

dogear nation podcast logo
Dogear Nation podcast logo

Dogear Nation e158 Vile in a Vial from June 2010 

Engadget article: ThinkGeek is selling Mana Energy Potion if you want it

Wikipedia article: Scantron

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Episode 364 – Slimy Bots

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purple slime
Photo by Triana Nana on Unsplash

All things bots with @PiaggioFastFwd Gitamini, @flytrexcom burrito delivery, @BostonDynamics Spot & @Spotify, custard consistency slime bot and @dyson Zone

Michael, Andy and Michael start off this week’s episode by announcing that Games at Work, the podcast is not being cancelled.  Unlike E3.  Then, they move quickly into all things bot.  Robots such as Piaggio’s Gitamini get attention from a WSJ review.  And the co-hosts speculate on the usefulness of a robotic follower that can carry objects for you, although is limited by stairs.  Then the Flytrex drones, which are delivering food in Holly Springs, NC get some attention.

Andy and Michael M express their excitement for Jane McGonigal’s new book Imaginable and then switch gears to consider a robot made of magnetic slime and it’s potential uses in the future.  Check out the video from the embedded tweet below to get an idea for how this innovative material could be used.  Not to be outdone by flying, rolling and oozing bots, the co-hosts discuss a new pairing of Boston Dynamics Spot with a drone to patrol Pompeii.  

Wrapping things up for this week, the cohosts consider the Overcast podcast client redesign, Spotify’s new delivery feed, how LinkedIn profiles may be AI-created images and the new Dyson Zone headphones with an air filter that just seems like it must be an April Fools joke. 

What would you like delivered by drone?  How would you deploy a slimebot?  Is the Dyson Zone an April Fools joke?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

The Verge article: E3 2022 is canceled

The Wall Street Journal article: This Robot Promises to Make the Backpack Obsolete

Games at Work episode 340 — Tiny Grand Ideas

Piaggio’s mygita.com

Axios article: Axios What’s Next

Flytrex

Imaginable by Jane McGonigal 

Reuters article: Four-legged robot deployed to help manage Pompeii

Boston Dynamics Spot

Tindie: MarsCat

Tindie blog: MarsCat: A Bionic Pet Cat! 

marco.org blog: The Overcast Redesign: Part One

The Verge article: Spotify tests a podcast discovery feed

NPR article: That smiling LinkedIn profile face may be a computer-generated fake

GameRant article: Pokemon GO Fan Has Played the Game So Much It’s Burnt Into Their iPhone Screen

BGR article: Dyson Zone headphones come with a built-in air purifier 

Dyson Zone press release

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Episode 363 – Make A New Plan, Stan

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Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash

A 51st way to leave your lover: AI, iPod Hi-Fi hacks, @PetoiCamp ’s Nybble, @Snap ’s @nextmind acquisition, @LEGO_Group @StarWars dioramas and @JustBornInc ’s iconic Peeps

Andy, Michael and Michael start up this week’s episode in a musical way, beginning with an iPod Hi-Fi hack.  Michael M misremembers the iPod Hi-Fi as the B&W Zeppelin (see show notes below for the difference).  Then the team moves on to Petoi’s robot cat Nybble which uses an ultrasonic sensor to react to its environment.  Next up is Snap’s recent acquisition NextMind, a Paris-based brain-computer interface company who has developed a device to read neural activity in the cortex.  This intrigues the co-hosts with the combination of Snap’s Spectacles with AR and the ability to think about pressing a virtual button via the NextMind device.  

Then, the co-hosts consider a story about an AI agent that could do one of the hardest parts of relationship work for you – breaking up with a partner.  No need to discuss much, just fire up the AI, and set yourself free to paraphrase the song.

The team wraps up with some very cool LEGO Star Wars diorama builds – the trash compactor is a favorite, some Star Wars spinoff shows, and because it’s that time of year, Peeps!

What is your favorite Peep?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Cult of Mac article: iPod Hi-Fi hack adds support for … Nintendo 3DS?

C|Net article: Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod speaker review

GamesatWork.biz Episode 360 — Bark < Byte

Petoi Nybble Robot Cat

TechCrunch article: Snap buys mind-controlled headband maker, NextMind

Snap Newsroom: Welcome NextMind

Mel Magazine article: Breaking Up Is Hard, But What If You Had An A.I. Do It For You?

Cult of Mac article: Studio Display adds ‘Hey Siri’ to older Mac models, has 64GB of storage

CBR.com article: LEGO’s New Star Wars Sets Recreate Iconic Original Trilogy Scenes

SlashFilm article: The Never-Aired Star Wars Detours Would’ve Featured New Weird Al Songs

Mashed article: Survey Reveals America’s Favorite Peeps

Peepsfest 

Final Peepfest, photo by Michael Martine, April 2009

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Episode 362- Haptics & Smell-o-vision

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possible use cases, enhanced by chemical haptics, touch, smell & accelerometers.  Corporate metaverse experiments in @TheSandboxGame & Elden Ring trickery.

Michael and Michael start of this week’s episode with a series of mixed reality and metaverse possibilities.  The videos .  Making the virtual experience even more immersive is possible by incorporating touch and smell.  The team of Jasmine Lu, Ziwei Liu, Jas Brooks and Pedro Lopes have put together a paper on how the sense of touch can be used to give a feeling of cooling, warming and more.  Check out the summary of their work on Chemical Haptics in the show notes.  OVR Technology has a similar wearable that leverages the users’ sense of smell.  Michael and Michael speculate how these could be combined together to give a feeling of heat and the smell of burning.  A third example comes from Audi, who are bringing their Holoride technology to market this summer, to create virtual experiences for passengers in moving vehicles.  

HSBC stakes out a claim in The Sandbox for their metaverse experience, which reminds the co-hosts of older 3D Internet experiences.  An ingenious player creatively masquerades as a non-player character (NPC) in Elden Ring. 

What combinations of smell and chemical haptics are most intriguing to you?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Apple Developer: Designing Award Winning Apps and Games – WWDC19 – Videos – Apple Developer 

HomeCourt.ai

Fyter

NewScientist article: Artificial touch: The new tech making virtual reality more immersive

Chemical Haptics

NPR article: Vermont tech firm believes to experience the metaverse, you have to smell it too

OVR Technology

The Verge article: New video game company aims to develop therapeutic games

Audi Newsroom: Beginning in the summer of 2022, Audi will become the first manufacturer to transform the automobile into an experience platform for virtual reality

Hypebeast article: HSBC Enters the Metaverse With The Sandbox Partnership

The Sandbox

Kotaku article: Elden Ring Player Pretends To Be NPC And Successfully Tricks Invader

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