Episode 311 — Mesh Networks

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mesh network
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Michael and Michael enjoy spending an extended Saturday afternoon discussion with their friend Ian “epredator” Hughes on a wide variety of topics.

Staring off with the recent space news on the Perseverance rover being powered by the same processor as a 1990s iMac and the SpaceX Starship, the team quickly gets into Microsoft Mesh, with a detailed assessment of what Microsoft’s latest announcement means to mixed reality experiences.  With an HTTP-esque approach to incorporating multiple technologies, Microsoft’s latest foray clearly builds upon the HoloLens experience and moves the state of the art forward with many different hardware devices such as laptops, VR headsets from Oculus and HTCVive as well as mobile phone operating systems to draw people into the such virtual and augmented experiences.  A proof of concept experience for Pokemon Go gets attention from the panel, as do a number of other user experiences in other technology settings, from Volkswagen’s new ID.4 UX, to bananas being used for control devices.  The banana reminds Ian and Michael R of the Makey Makey experience, which just so happens to have a banana in their logo! 

Drones inspired by nature and efficient electrical engines as well as games such as Doom and Diablo II are discussed.  Apple’s DTK return program gets a few minutes, as does the reported 1,200 new German words from the Coronazeit.  LEGO brings this episode to a close with an animatronic version of Jeopardy! and a reminder where to find epredator online (hint, it’s at Feeding Edge with the link below!) and a promise not to let it be another year before this team gets back together to record another episode.

If you like what you heard, please take a moment to rate the podcast, and share your stories & ideas with the Games At Work team.

Selected Links

Gizmodo article: A 1990s iMac Processor Powers NASA’s Perseverance Rover — https://gizmodo.com/a-1990s-imac-processor-powers-nasa-s-perseverance-rover-1846380844 

The Verge article: NASA’s latest Mars rover has the same processor as an iMac from 1998 — https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/3/2/22309412/nasa-perseverance-mars-rover-processor-cpu-imac-1998 

The Verge article: SpaceX lands Starship prototype for the first time — and then it blows up — https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/3/22311916/spacex-starship-prototype-landing-successful 

The Verge article: Microsoft Mesh feels like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings — https://www.theverge.com/22308883/microsoft-mesh-virtual-reality-augmented-reality-hololens-vr-headsets-features 

Microsoft Mesh — https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mesh 

AltspaceVR — https://altvr.com 

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

I Wonder Where That Fish Did Go — https://www.lyricsmania.com/i_wonder_where_that_fish_did_go_lyrics_monty_python.html 

The Verge article: Microsoft and Niantic demo a HoloLens version of Pokemon Go — https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/2/22309466/pokemon-go-hololens-prototype-microsoft-ignite-niantic 

Mashable article: Volkswagen’s new ID.4 EV soothes drivers with a subtle (and literal) guiding light — https://mashable.com/article/volkswagen-id4-electric-vehicle-suv-light-bar/ 

Volkswagen ID.4 — https://www.vw.com/en/models/id-4.html 

TechCrunch article: Firms backed by Robert Downey, Jr. and Bill Gates have funded an electric motor company that slashes energy consumption — https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/03/firms-backed-by-robert-downey-jr-and-bill-gates-have-funded-an-electric-motor-company-that-can-slas/ 

Turntide — https://turntide.com 

TechCrunch article: MIT’s insect-sized drones are built to survive collisions — https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/mits-insect-sized-drones-are-built-to-survive-collisions/

Festo Robotics blog: Taking a close look at wings in nature — https://www.festo.com/us/en/e/journal/taking-a-close-look-at-wings-in-nature-id_44627/ 

MacRumors article: Developers Start Receiving $500 Credits for Returning DTK Mac Minis — https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/04/developers-apple-credit-returning-dtk-mac-mini/ 

Apple’s Universal App Quick Start Program — https://developer.apple.com/programs/universal/ 

The Verge article: Sony announces six PlayStation VR game, including Doom 3 for VR — https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/3/22311254/sony-psvr-showcase-vr-games-doom-3-i-expect-you-to-die-ps4-ps5 

The Verge article: Diablo II: Resurrected will let you import your 20-year-old savegames — https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/4/22314085/diablo-ii-remastered-original-save-files-savegames 

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_2:_Solid_Snake 

Kotaku article: Sony Imagines A Future Where A Banana Is A Video Game Controller — https://kotaku.com/sony-imagines-a-future-where-a-banana-is-a-video-game-c-1846401203 

Makey Makey — https://makeymakey.com 

NBC News article: This grandma will kill you with kindness — and in ‘Call of Duty’ — https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/grandma-will-kill-kindness-call-duty-rcna339 

iMore article: Microsoft brings official Apple silicon support to Visual Studio Code — https://www.imore.com/microsoft-brings-official-apple-silicon-support-visual-studio-code 

CNN Business article: Inside the complicated business of disguising 5G equipment — https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/tech/5g-concealment/index.html 

The Guardian article: Coronaangst ridden? Overzoomed? Covid inspires 1,200 new German words — https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/23/from-coronaangst-to-hamsteritis-the-new-german-words-inspired-by-covid 

Slashfilm article: VOTD: Moving ‘Jeopardy!’ LEGO Set Brings the Greatest of All Time Tournament to Life — https://www.slashfilm.com/custom-jeopardy-lego-set/ 

Brick Nerd article: A Tribute To Trebek — https://bricknerd.com/home/a-tribute-to-trebek-25-2021 

Fischer Technik — https://www.fischertechnik.de/en/ 

Feeding Edge — http://feedingedge.co.uk 

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Episode 310 — Electric PotterVision

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old television
Photo by Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash

The co-hosts get together to marvel at the newest videos from NASA’s successful landing on Mars, and the secret message encoded into the Perseverance parachute.  Going from the extraterrestrial to the augmented (or artificial) reality, team considers an Apple II plus emulated in the Unreal Engine 4.

An AR diorama museum experience brings people together to see extinct animals in their own habitat on your kitchen table, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.  Gamification then takes center stage with the Harbor emergency prep startup, which tells you what you should do when an emergency strikes, and helps you get ready beforehand.  

Reminiscent of the Daily Prophet from Harry Potter, MyHeritage uses “deepfakery” to animate pictures of your relatives and allow you to see the people move in a natural way.

A sleek solar battery powered car which looks much like the Batmobile captures the team’s attention.  Speaking of batteries, a new invention allows wearables to be powered by people, which is shocking to the cohosts.  

And to bookend this episode with another diorama, the Guinness Book of World Records award for the “Largest Interlocking Plastic Brick Diorama” is given to an amazing Lord of the Rings build in Shenzhen, China that you have to see the video to believe.  

Selected Links

The Verge article: NASA’s Perseverance rover beams back first images from its wild landing — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22291412/nasa-perseverance-rover-first-images-landing-skycrane 

TechCrunch article: Watch Perseverance’s harrowing descent to the surface of Mars — https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/22/watch-perseverances-harrowing-descent-to-the-surface-of-mars/ 

Sixcolors article: Secret Binary Message Embedded In Mars Perseverance Parachute — https://sixcolors.com/link/2021/02/secret-binary-message-embedded-in-mars-perseverance-parachute/ 

Input Mag article: The Apple II has been emulated inside Unreal Engine 4 — https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/someone-emulated-the-apple-ii-inside-unreal-engine-4 

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

The Verge article: Museum Alive is dioramas but AR, with narration by David Attenborough — https://www.theverge.com/22299611/museum-alive-iphone-app-david-attenborough-augmented-reality 

The Blue Planet — https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008044n 

Tech Crunch article: Gamified emergency prep startup Harbor inks ADT partnership — https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/24/harbor-adt/ 

Harbor — https://www.helloharbor.com 

TechCrunch article: MyHeritage now lets you animate old family photos using deepfakery — https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/26/myheritage-now-lets-you-animate-old-family-photos-using-deepfakery/ 

The Verge article: The Framework Laptop is an upgradeable, customizable 13-inch notebook coming this spring — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22299938/framework-laptop-features-upgrade-release-date-price 

Washington Post article: It looks like the Batmobile, works on solar energy, and could be the future of cars — https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/solar-car/ 

Boy Genius Report article: Scientists invented a wearable that recharges in the most incredible way — https://bgr.com/2021/02/25/wearable-battery-power-generator/ 

Futurism article: Boston Dynamics Mad Someone Used Their Terrifying RoboDog as Intended — https://wordpress.futurism.com/boston-dynamics-mad-someone-using-terrifying-robodog-as-intended 

Slashfilm article: VOTD: This Massive ‘Lord of the Rings’ LEGO Diorama Set a Guinness World Record — https://www.slashfilm.com/guinness-world-record-setting-lord-of-the-rings-lego-diorama-set/

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Episode 309 — Cardboard Doom to Khazad-dûm

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Andy and Michael M. geek out on NASA’s latest rover sticking the landing on Mars.  And the rover Perseverance brought the helicopter drone Ingenuity along for the ride.  If all goes well, this will be the first controlled flight on another planet, reminiscent of the Wright Brothers’ flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  

In soundscape news, Andy shares the “I Miss My Bar” audio experience to remind you of what it was like to be in your local.  This reminds Michael of the I Miss the Office soundscape.  Andy and Michael then take a look at Andy Baio’s Skittish, where the virtual reality environment also includes a spatial audio component to the experience.  Both Andy and Michael have signed up and can’t wait to give this world a spin.  Going back briefly to last week’s episode, Michael shares his excitement to participate in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming VR production of Dream.

News of vehicles being used for generators and batteries in Texas features in the next couple of articles.  Ford’s newest F-150 truck provides an onboard generator for heavy duty electrical equipment at a job site and is very useful to provide power during the massive outages in Texas.  Likewise, Tesla owners take advantage of their cars’ battery to power their homes during the outage.  Speaking of batteries, check out the super cute Battery Buddy.

Returning to the running set of examples of what can run Doom, the cohosts share a story of Doom running on cardboard.  Check out the video below for all the deets.

In a crossover between LEGO, AR and reality, Universal Music Group signs L.L.A.M.A. to the label.  And in the world of tv shows and film, the full compliment of co-hosts talk Tolkien and D&D to round out this week’s episode, showing the full range of topics, from cardboard Doom to Khazad-dûm.

Selected Links

NASA Mars 2020 — https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mars2020/#/home?time=2021-02-18T15:44:05.046-05:00&rate=0&id=surface_operations 

IEEE Spectrum article: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars — https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/aerospace/robotic-exploration/nasa-designed-perseverance-helicopter-rover-fly-autonomously-mars 

CNN article: Ingenuity helicopter phones home from Mars — https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/world/mars-ingenuity-helicopter-update-scn-trnd/index.html 

National Park Service Wight Brother’s National Memorial in North Carolina — https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm 

The Verge article: I Miss My Bar is like audio therapy for barflies — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/11/22278889/i-miss-my-bar-maverick-site-sounds-playlist-people-talking 

Games At Work episode 270: Virtual Bricks — https://gamesatwork.biz/2020/04/27/episode-270-virtual-bricks/ 

Apartment Therapy article: Miss Going to the Office? This Site Simulates Work Noises — https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/virtual-work-noises-sounds-36745545 

I Miss the Office — https://imisstheoffice.eu 

The Verge article: Skittish is a virtual event space built from the lessons of the pandemic — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/17/22286520/skittish-virtual-event-space-online-andy-baio 

Skittish — https://skittish.com 

Andy Baio — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Baio 

Dream — https://dream.online 

CNBC article: Some Texans use 2021 Ford F-150 hybrid pickup trucks to power homes amid winter storm — https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/some-texans-use-2021-ford-f-150-hybrids-to-power-homes-amid-winter-storm.html 

Vice article: Texas Tesla Owners Are Drawing Power From Their Cars During Blackouts — https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vyvk/texas-tesla-owners-are-drawing-power-from-their-cars-during-blackouts 

Product Hunt article: Battery Buddy — https://www.producthunt.com/posts/battery-buddy 

Battery Buddy — https://batterybuddy.app/?ref=gamesatwork.biz 

The Verge TL;DR article: Can a cardboard box run Doom II? Yes — https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/2/16/22285300/doom-2-games-made-of-cardboard-video-john-romero 

Brick Fanatics article: Universal Music Group signs LEGO VIDIYO artist — https://www.brickfanatics.com/universal-music-group-signs-lego-vidiyo-artist/ 

Brick Fanatics article: Every song and artist available on LEGO VIDIYO right now — https://www.brickfanatics.com/every-song-and-artist-available-on-lego-vidiyo-right-now/ 

LEGO VIDIYO Party Llama Beat Box — https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/party-llama-beatbox-43105 

Slashfilm article: Elijah Wood Thinks Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Should Be Renamed — https://www.slashfilm.com/elijah-wood-amazon-lord-of-the-rings-series-title/ 

Slashfilm article: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Adds Breakout ‘Bridgerton’ Star Regé-Jean Page to the Ensemble Cast — https://www.slashfilm.com/new-dungeons-and-dragons-movie-cast-adds-rege-jean-page/ 

Dungeons & Dragons (TV Series) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_(TV_series) 

Kitty Letter game — https://theoatmeal.com/blog/free_game 

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Episode 308 — Feline Filters

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Foster Kitten, December 2020

Michael, Michael and Andy start off this week’s episode with the intersection of AR & VR in performances and games.  Apple does a nice AR tie in with it’s For All Mankind AppleTV+, and the Royal Shakespeare Company plans for a VR show in March where the audience can guide Puck from their remote viewing link.  After taking a look at the uncannily good MetaHuman technology from Epic Games, the trio immerse themselves in a version of Edvard Munch’s painting, and then moving along to Van Gogh in Activeworlds and LEGO.

A side-by-side video showcases the creative reuse of Disney animators.  And, of course, the feline filter.  An attorney participating in a Zoom hearing is visually represented as a cat, and as you might expect, hilarity ensues.

For this week’s moment of zen, frozen clothing as percussion instruments.  Given that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, there’s still a few more weeks of winter to come, so perhaps the Frozen Clothes Band will make another encore appearance.    

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Apple launches a new AR experience tied to ‘For All Mankind’ — https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/11/for-all-mankind-time-capsule 

For All Mankind — https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7?itscg=10000&itsct=atv-0-tv_ovp-carousel-apl-200528 

BBC article: Royal Shakespeare Company to stage virtual reality show — https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-55969712 

Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance of Dream — https://dream.online

Uncanny Valley — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley 

Games At Work episode 197 Looking for AR — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/04/09/episode-197-looking-for-ar/

A Fantastic Animated Version of Edvard Munch’s Painting ‘The Scream’ Set to a Pink Floyd Soundtrack — https://laughingsquid.com/animated-edvard-munch-the-scream/ 

Activeworlds — https://www.activeworlds.com/index.php 

Nerdist article: Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night Is the Newest LEGO Set — https://nerdist.com/article/vincent-van-gogh-starry-night-lego-set/ 

The Verge TL;DR article: Zoom filter traps this lawyer as a cute cat during live court hearing — https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/2/9/22274865/zoom-hearing-cat-filter-lawyer-texas-live-court-hearing 

The Verge article: VLC 4.0 coming this year with new interface for the popular video player — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/12/22279750/vlc-4-0-new-user-interface-videolan-media-player-video-music-movie-database-web-player 

The Verge article: Microsoft’s foldable Surface Duo price drops to $999, arrives in Europe next week — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/11/22278035/microsoft-surface-duo-uk-release-date-price-features 

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