Episode 359 – Speak Friend & Enter

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doorway with open door leading to another door
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Manifest your reality into the via voice with @Meta ’s Builder Bot, stroll down the fashion district in @decentraland ‘s , buy @colbertlateshow ’s , earn in-game money that can be exported in @playhyperspace 

Words are powerful, and with Meta’s new “Builder Bot”, you can speak what you want to manifest into your personal virtual world.  This strikes Andy as a starting point that could eventually lead to something like the Star Trek Holodeck.  The co-hosts then also discuss how the artificial intelligence behind the Builder Bot can become more tuned to the user, so that it gets to know what the user really means when a request is made for a “picnic blanket over there”.

Sticking with the metaverse, the first ever Metaverse Fashion Week is coming up in Decentraland’s Fashion District on March 24 – 27.  According to the Metaverse Group press release, the event will feature catwalks, pop-up shops, and more.  Given that fashion digital assets could be bought and sold on the blockchain as NFTs, the team takes a look at Stephen Colbert’s NFT on Terra Virtua.  Andy actually went through the (several) steps to purchase one and is now a proud owner.

The team considers Hyperspace, a game coming soon that is not only free to play, but also provides an opportunity to work.  And by work, that means that making money in-game can give the player an opportunity to pull funds from the game into real life.  This is a bit of a twist, isn’t it?

Rounding out this week’s episode, the co-hosts consider the current status of AI copyrights and patenting.  Also, the apparent rising popularity of voice notes and what that bodes for efficient communication.

What NFT fashions might you purchase for your avatar?  And do you find voice notes effective? Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

Fast Company article: You will soon be able to speak objects into existence in the metaverse

VogueBusiness article: Paco Rabanne, D&G and Etro to appear at Metaverse Fashion Week

Decentraland 

Metaverse Group

Episode 283 — Virtual Cloaks

Vogue article: Would You Spend Real Money on Virtual Clothes?

Terra Virtua Donors Choose Colbert NFT

Marcos Antonio Tanaka apps

Gamespress article: Carbon Based Lifeforms Blasts into the Galaxy with Newly Announced Sandbox MMO Hyperspace

Hyperspace

Wylde Flowers

Engadget article: The Morning After: You can’t copyright AI-created art

The Guardian article: Intimate or irritating: are voice notes killing the phone call?

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Episode 358 – Metaversing

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Opus the penguin, holding a tuba mouthpiece
Picture by Michael Martine, Feb 2022

Metaverse as a product?  As a place?  Or a moment?  Life logging & open source software escrow as a means of historical preservation.  @onepeloton’s . And a dose of heavy metal tuba from Deathtöngue’s Bill the Cat & Opus Croakus.  Rock on with @andypiper @michaelrowe01 & @carolinabigblue

Starting off this week’s episode, Michael, Andy and Michael talk through the World Economic Forum’s assessment of the metaverse, and the the three theories posited by the article.  Andy pulls out the brain computer interface, and takes a deeper look at the non-surgical OpenBCI innovation, which reminds Michael R of his experiences with the Emotiv headset.  

Reminiscent of the MIT experiment of life logging from the 1990s, the co-hosts discuss the Motorola neckband, which is designed to make the XR glasses less bulky.  The team then turn their attention to the recently released Lanebreak game from Peloton, which introduces another interesting twist on gameifying your workout.  

The cohosts embark upon an intriguing discussion on the historical preservation of software.  The example of software support for implantable bionic eyes from SecondSight.  Comparisons between the historical preservation of architectural and cultural heritage are made with examples of software placed into open source escrow.

Michael R shares the news that Fox is planning a Bloom County animated TV series.  Michael M remembers rhythm tuba player Opus Croakus from Deathtöngue.  This TV show is certainly going to go up to eleven on the charts.

What fictional band would you most like to see in concert?  What software should be put into open source escrow in your opinion? Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!  

Selected Article Links

World Economic Forum article: 3 technologies that will shape the future of the metaverse – and the human experience

OpenBCI: Galea: Biosensing + Spacial Computing

Emotiv 

Episode 237 — Tasty Robots

The Verge article: This 5G neckband from Motorola could make XR glasses less bulky

MIT Technology Review article: My Life, Logged

The Chronicle of Higher Education article: On The Record, All the Time

MIT Media Lab people: Steve Mann publications 

The Verge article: Go read this dystopian story about patients whose bionic eyes went obsolete

IEEE Spectrum article: Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete And Unsupported

Moorfields Eye Hospital article: Revolutionary bionic chip inserted in Moorfields patient’s eye

SecondSight

The Verge article: Peloton’s Lanebreak video game is finally here

The Verge article: Netflix is making a live-action BioShock movie

Slashfilm article: Bloom County Animated TV Series In The Works At Fox, Based On The 1980s Comic

The Tyranny of Tradition article: Deathtöngue Honored By Imaginary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

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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

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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

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