Episode 357 – Real Reality, or Something

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mocap person
Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Real reality? Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality including RealityOS, sprinkled in with a healthy dose of visualizations, music portability & fitness as well as Nintendo Switch games.  

Michael, Andy and Michael are all together again, and for this week’s episode, reality in all of it’s glorious forms take center stage.  The cohosts begin their discussion with a couple of articles focused on how RealityOS was spotted in the pre-release iOS 13 code, and speculation about what this means.  Then, staying on the theme of Apple’s AR/VR/MR/XR headset, the Patently Apple team showcases a recently filed patent spelling out how a headset could visualize non-visible things.  This leads to a discussion on the screen real estate that a vehicle’s windshield provides, vehicle to vehicle communication and a subsequent article on digital twin road maintenance to fix potholes.

Turning to the world of music, the cohosts muse over FreeYourMusic.com‘s subscription model.  Then they exercise the Apple acquisition of AI.music, and implications for Apple’s Fitness+ service.  

Wrapping up this week’s episode, Andy, Michael and Michael kick around some games coming to Nintendo Switch, focusing first on Wii Sports and then No Man’s Sky.  

What would you like to see at the intersection of music and fitness?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Fast Company article: Apple’s ‘RealityOS’ may be a baby step into a new computing paradigm

Cult of Mac article: Apple spills ‘realityOS’ again as new AR/VR headset inches closer

Patently Apple article: Apple Patent Reveals how their MR Headset will Detect and Visualize Non-Visible Phenomena like Gasses, an Audible Fence & more

VentureBeat article: EyeVi looks to improve road maintenance with digital twins

waze road munching
Waze Road Munching gamification example screenshot

The Verge article: How to transfer playlists from Spotify to Apple Music, YouTube Music, or Tidal 

Free Your Music

9to5Mac article: Apple acquires startup behind Infinite Music Engine that adapts music to your heartbeat

Apple Fitness+ 

Wikipedia article: The Red Shoes 

NPR article: With streaming services and digital downloads, why would anyone buy cassette tapes?

The Verge article: Nintendo is making a new Wii Sports for the Switch

Extended links for this week

PCGamer article: Minecraft’s new frogs were briefly swallowing goats whole

Michael M’s weekend fun, the NCSSM UniHacks hackathon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:14 — 38.2MB) | Embed

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Episode 356 – Meta-mojis

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3D emoji
Photo by Count Chris on Unsplash

all things including @MetaQuestVR & @HoloLens headsets, @Microsoft 3D emojis, @Amazon brick & mortar stores, @LEGO_Group MRI, Mjölnir & @starwars helmet builds, & much more!

Andy and Michael R get the retail experience conversation started with a discussion on 7-Eleven employing a holographic self checkout in Japan.  The article focused on not only the convenience but also the lack of physical contact with the check out terminal, which has obvious benefits given the pandemic.  This spurs a further discussion on other means for accomplishing the same, albeit with non-holographic means, such as Amazon’s brick and mortar stores.  Andy describes how The Amazon Fresh grocery store accomplishes this with cameras.

Metaverse topics then take center stage beginning with the news of Mozilla retiring it’s VR version of Firefox.  The underlying code is being picked up by developer Igalia who announced Wolvic, an open source browser for WebXR.  This leads the conversation to the hardware side of the metaverse, with Andy’s experience with the Quest headset, and Michael R’s experience with Google Glass.  The co-hosts also discuss some articles speculating about the cancellation of the next generation of Microsoft’s HoloLens in favor of a focus on Microsoft Mesh for cross-platform collaboration.  Sticking with Microsoft for a bit more, Andy and Michael give their thoughts about 3D versions of emoji, vs the flat design that others have been employing.  Check out the blog post by Nando Costa, Distinguished Designer at Microsoft for the rationale and re-imagining of the emoji in 3D journey.  

Switching gears to LEGO, and for the cohosts of this podcast, this is an easy gear to switch to, they bring up a unique build for hospitals.  To help children better understand an MRI machine, LEGO has created a not-for-sale build through their Local Community Engagement program.  According to LEGO, the MRI model is designed to help children reduce their anxiety and make their experience more playful and less scary.  Bravo, LEGO!  

Rounding out this week’s episode include discussions on games as a business, with the recent acquisitions by Sony of Bungie (makers of Halo), and Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.  This spurs a story from Michael R about his experiences with Star Wars Galaxies Restoration, and the community effort to keep this game in existence.  It is easy to imagine the confluence of the metaverse with such games — how about learning Java from Jabba the Hutt?  

What emoji are you excited to see in 3D and how do you think they may be used in XR?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Gizmodo article: 7-Eleven Stores in Japan Are Getting Touch-Free Floating Holographic Self-Checkouts

Amazon Four Star Store

Amazon Fresh Grocery Store

The Verge article: Mozilla is retiring its VR version of Firefox

WebXR

igalia post: Igalia announces Wolvic, a new browser project with an initial focus of picking up where Firefox Reality leaves off

Wolvic

Quest 2 VR headset

Tech Times article: Microsoft Cancels HoloLens 3 AR Headsets: Giving Up on Hardware to Focus on AR and MR Software?

XR Today article: Microsoft Cancels HoloLens 3 Headset, Reports Say

Microsoft HoloLens

XR Today article: Microsoft Mesh Review: Exploring Mixed Reality

Google Glass

The Verge article: Microsoft still working on 3D emoji for Windows 11

Fluent Emoji from Nando Costa on Vimeo.

Nando Costa’s LinkedIn blog post: The making of Fluent emoji

Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions

Nerdist article: LEGO is Giving Hospitals MRI Scanner Sets to Ease Kids’ Worries

LEGO Local Community Engagement

LEGO Star Wars Helmets

Star Wars article: New LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker, The Mandalorian, and Dark Trooper Helmets Coming to Our Galaxy — Exclusive Reveal

LEGO Thor’s Hammer

Washington Post Launcher article:  Activision Blizzard’s console revenue drops 31 percent;  ‘World of Warcraft’ is getting a mobile game

Techdirt article: Moar Consolidation: Sony Acquires Bungie, But Appears To Be More Hands Off Than Microsoft

Screen Rant article: Is Halo Infinite Made By Bungie

Star Wars Galaxies Restoration

Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG

Far Cry 3

The Book of Boba Fett

Audiokit Pro Drum Pad app

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:07 — 40.4MB) | Embed

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Episode 355 — Metaverse Kicks

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neon sneaker
Photo by Skyler Smith on Unsplash

Metaverse coworking environments such as @sococo @gather_town @getTeamflow @branch_gg , AR sneaker shopping and lessons to be learned from medieval sleeping practices

All three co-hosts are back in force for this week’s episode, starting off with more metaverse topics than you can shake an AR stick at.  The team starts off this week’s episode with a discussion on recent patents filed by Meta to attract younger users to the platform.  This is followed by Michael, Michael and Andy getting distracted by playing with the Lemverse cowering environment, and remembering prior other examples of virtual coworking environments discussed in Games At Work episodes 165 and 298.  

Continuing on the metaverse theme are two articles shared by Ian Hughes – starting with Raph Koster’s “real metaverse” talk and the NBA’s work to use 100 cameras to embed basketball games in a virtual world to create a full-fledged holographic game experience.  A tweet (with limited explanation) shows a user interacting with a virtual shopping site for sneakers that reminds Michael and Michael of their shopping patent.  

After considering the Sid Meier flight simulation games, the treasure trove of Activision games acquired by Microsoft, and the Mario Odyssey HUD speedrun challenge, the team wraps up this episode with the evolution of sleep, and lessons that can be learned from the pre-industrial revolution era.

What’s keeping you up at night, or at least occupying your time between primo sonno and your second sleep?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

techdirt article: Patent Applications Hint That Facebook’s VR World Might Just Be Web Mutton Dressed Up As Metaverse Lamb

Lemverse

Lemverse on Github

IMDb listing: WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn

Games At Work episode 165 Virtual Math (with virtual office space Sococo)

Games At Work episode 298 Black Friday & Light Beer

Sococo

Gather

Huddle

Branch

VentureBeat article: Raph Koster’s real talk about a real metaverse

Sportico article: Brooklyn Leaps Into the ‘Netaverse’ With Canon Broadcast Tech

Tag Along Shopping patent

Oura ring

PCGamesN article: Sid Meier’s classic flight simulators are now on Steam

Activision 

Sid Meier

Mashable article: Microsoft can rescue a historic trove of lost games from Activision’s vault

Kotaku article: Mario Odyssey Speedrunner Completes Absurd, Nearly Unplayable ‘HUD Challenge’

The Atlantic article: Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia?

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Episode 354 – How To Be The Trinity

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It’s time for a special guest! Metaverse evangelist and good friend of the show, Ian epredator Hughes joins Andy and Michael R. to get philosophical about the metaverse, and to discuss games (from the very old, to the much more recent).

Follow epredator on Twitter, and via his blog.
Check out his fantastic science fiction novels: Reconfigure and Cont3xt

A shallow, three-sided / triangular prism of glass, in pink light
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

We start out this week, by wondering whether there is one, or, are there many metaverses? epred briefly refers us to The Seven Rules of the Metaverse, to set things straight.

We rewind by 4000 years, to talk about a recently discovered early board game – with no idea how it would have been played – and then, we jump right back up to date, to talk about the huge announcement of Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard. What do you think this means for the ecosystem? Tweet us to let us know!

Transitioning over to physical gaming, we change things up by discussing mixed and augmented tabletop gaming experiences. Have you tried any of these?

For the next segment, none of us are able to reliably remember whether the Playdate handheld is available yet. Philip Rosedale apparently isn’t convinced that VR is easy, and recognises the importance of mobile. Also, Roblox finally shared what happened during their big outage last year. Large systems are not easy…

We dive in to the philosophical questions around the metaverse, with two new books, Reality+ by David J Chalmers, and, How to be a God by Professor Richard Bartle. Definitely titles for your reading list!

Finally, we round up with some quick hits on Democracy 4, and a Weird Al Yankovich biopic.

Many thanks again to Ian epredator Hughes for his generous time and contributions to this week’s show.

And please! stop going to see Spider-Man!!!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:12 — 39.3MB) | Embed

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Selected Article Links