Episode 256 — Dissecting Privacy

green frog on lily pad
Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

For the opening podcast of 2020, Michael and Michael start with a dissection of the California Consumer Privacy Act and how it is being implemented.  While the California law most directly impacts (and benefits) California residents, there are some companies that will implement CCPA regulations for all users of their products and services.  

Continuing on the AI theme, the co-hosts talk through an AI implementation to edit photographs, either by adding or deleting portions of the image via a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN).  Some of the capabilities are truly remarkable, such as adding or subtracting clouds from the sky, while others have inconsistent results.  An intriguing set of use cases for how GAN systems can function.

On the Apple front, the Cupertino company’s presence at CES this year will be duly observed and reported on by many.  Michael and Michael both express amazement at the outstanding quality of Apple’s audio prowess on iPad and iPhone, and noted how a recent Apple patent on audio positioning will continue to strengthen their capabilities.  

Training on the skeleton on the living room floor is being done today in virtual reality by an Australian hopeful for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.  One has to wonder what the Jamaican bobsled team might think about this.

Stanford’s efforts to miniaturize particle accelerators creates opportunities for new and innovative ways to create new insights in particle physics at a substantially reduced cost compared with accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider.  And of course, the pair had to check whether the LHC has destroyed the world yet (link in notes below).  

Wrapping up the first show of the decade with an interesting observation of all the Pantone colors of the year since 2010 on full display in The Simpsons’ living room from the opening show sequence has one wondering whether Matt Groening indeed could time travel.  Perhaps he had access to some of those mini particle accelerators in the future, and this is an easter egg.  Check back on that LHC link again, folks, and tune in next week for another edition of Games at Work!  

Selected Links

California Consumer Privacy Act (AB-375) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB375 

California Privacy Directory — https://caprivacy.github.io/caprivacy/ 

ZDNet article: Mozilla: All Firefox users get California’s CCPA privacy rights to delete personal data — https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-all-firefox-users-get-californias-ccpa-privacy-rights-to-delete-personal-data/ 

GAN Dissection: Visualizing and Understanding Generative Adversarial Networks — https://gandissect.csail.mit.edu 

WBUR NPR story: Dissecting The World’s 1st ‘Wet, Slimy’ Synthetic Frog — https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/01/02/florida-synthetic-frog-dissect 

MacRumors article: Apple to Attend CES 2020 in Rare Official Appearance — https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/02/apple-to-attend-ces-2020-homekit/ 

9To5Mac article: Second Apple patent on virtual positioning of audio hints at AR on MacBooks — https://9to5mac.com/2019/12/31/ar-on-macbooks/ 

Sixcolors post: Brydge introduces iPad keyboard with trackpad — https://sixcolors.com/post/2020/01/brydge-pro/ 

VR Fitness Insider article: Australian Skeleton Racer Didn’t Have Training Facility, So He Used VR — https://www.vrfitnessinsider.com/australian-skeleton-racer-didnt-have-training-facility-so-he-used-vr/ 

IMDB entry: Cool Runnings (1993) — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106611/ 

TechCrunch article: This particle accelerator fits on the head of a pin — https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/02/this-particle-accelerator-fits-on-the-head-of-a-pin/ 

Science Magazine article: On-chip integrated laser-driven particle accelerator — https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6473/79 

Has the Large Hadron Collider Destroyed The World Yet site — http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com 

Apartment Therapy article: Pantone’s Colors of the Year from 2010 Through 2020 All Appear in the Simpsons’ Living Room — https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/pantones-colors-of-the-year-from-2010-through-2020-all-appear-in-the-simpsons-living-room-36700574

The Simpsons — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons 

Pantone Color of the Year 2020 — https://www.pantone.com/color-intelligence/color-of-the-year/color-of-the-year-2020

Episode 255 — It's A Wrap

2019
Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Michael and Michael get together to take a look back at 2019 and reflect on the stories and themes of the year.  2019 in many ways was the year of the bot (robot, drone, droid – pick your favorite term!).  So many new kinds of robotic helpers with new capabilities are available now, and it is easy to see the speed of innovation in this space is increasing quickly.  Over the course of the year, this topic certainly caught the attention of the co-hosts in a major way, and provided intriguing fodder for many conversations.  It is easy to predict that in 2020, there will be much more on this subject. 

And bots were not only the physical kind, artificial intelligence bots also took center stage in 2019.  This year featured dissuasions on everything AI from autonomous vehicles, to deepfakes, to comedy, along with the ethical implications and introspection demanded of such new capabilities.  The technology has come quite a long way in such a short time.  And of course, games have played a major role in the development of such machine learning solutions.

Naturally, augmented reality was in focus during 2019, with some exciting new capabilities on the near horizon.  Longtime listeners of this podcast will not be surprised by this in the least — and the idea that the combination of AI + AR + robotics will yield fantastic new enterprise services.  Humans have been augmenting their abilities for years, and the technological advances made in 2019 will be a major springboard in new and unexpected ways in the coming year.

2019 was also the year of Star Wars, with the Rise of Skywalker opening in theaters only a few days ago, the new theme park additions providing an immersive Star Wars universe experience, and even more stories, such as The Mandalorian available to stream via Disney+.  Michael and Michael remember what it was like back in 1977 when this all started, and imagine what new universes there are to explore in the coming year.  Imagine best our best Admiral Ackbar voice: “It’s a wrap!”.  

We hope that you enjoyed listening and engaging with us in 2019, and as we enter our second decade, (and 8th year), we look forward to bringing you our thoughts and ideas on the technologies impacting the world in the coming year.  Wishing everyone all the best for a healthy, happy and Games At Work filled 2020!

Selected Links

Bots & such

Lucid’s drone is built to clean the outside of your house or office —  https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/lucids-drone-is-built-to-clean-the-outside-of-your-house-or-office/

‘Doomba’ turns your Roomba’s cleaning maps into Doom levels — https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/12/26/18156600/doomba-roomba-cleaning-maps-doom-levels-rich-whitehouse 

Husqvarna Robotic Lawn Mowers — https://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/robotic-lawn-mowers/ 

iRobot Lawn mower-  https://gizmodo.com/irobots-new-robot-lawn-mower-sure-looks-like-itll-piss-1832169602

Suit up with a robot to walk AND run more easily — https://wyss.harvard.edu/suit-up-with-a-robot-to-walk-and-run-more-easily/ 

AI & such

Variety article: ‘SNL’ Skit Pokes Fun at Chatty Video Game NPCs — https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/snl-kit-harrington-vr-video-game-skit-1203183007/ 

Turn selfies into classical portraits with the AI that fuels deepfakes – https://www.technologyreview.com/f/613995/turn-selfies-into-classical-portraits-with-the-ai-gnerative-that-fuels-deep-fakes-gans/

AR & such

Bose Frames — https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/frames.html 

Still don’t have them — https://www.inverse.com/article/53927-apple-ar-glasses-launch-date-price-features-wearable

Form AR swim goggles — https://www.formswim.com 

Minecraft Earth — https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/new-game–minecraft-earth 

Jedis & such

Lightsaber dueling now a competitive sport in France — https://www.si.com/olympic-fencing/2019/02/18/lightsaber-dueling-competitive-sport-france-fencing-federation 

Design You Trust post: Famous Classic Album Covers Mashed Up With Star Wars Characters — https://designyoutrust.com/2017/12/famous-classic-album-covers-mashed-star-wars-characters/ 

Life after Death Star – Richie Branson — https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/7/9860576/star-wars-biggie-smalls-mashup-album

Why 2019 was the biggest year in Star Wars history — https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/why-2019-was-the-biggest-year-in-star-wars-history

Episode 254 — Red Solo Shots

Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash

Happy opening weekend everybody!  Michael M can barely contain his excitement about seeing the newest film The Rise of Skywalker on opening weekend, and true to the sentiment expressed in the podcast, he will not give any spoilers.  Michael M’s one word review can be found in the show notes below.  Both Michaels appreciate the NPR radio plays recorded in 1981 when George Lucas sold the radio rights to the original three films for $1.  And both were glad to know that in these radio dramas, which have not been subject the tweaking and enhancing that the films have, have Han shooting first.  This reminds the co-hosts of another classic radio drama: the BBC’s production of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  

Continuing on the space and droid theme, Michael and Michael discuss a couple of articles on the improvements in satellite cameras, miniaturization and resiliency in small insect-sized bots, and larger autonomous aircraft that can lift and deliver payloads of over 300 pounds over 300 miles.  

Other stories this week include topics such as a specialized garage for your new Cybertruck, HBO Max announcing that they will be making a series on Neal Stephenson’s cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, and Puma’s new cyber (well, gaming) socks.  

Michael and Michael share some holiday game picks — see the show notes for the particulars.

Selected Links

See No Spoilers. Hear No Spoilers. Speak No Spoilers.

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker film information — https://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-ix-the-rise-of-skywalker 

Michael M’s one word review of Episode IX video of a brother & sister resorting to light sabers to determine whose turn it is to play with Yoda

Engadget article: These Coca-Cola bottles use OLEDs to light up Rey and Kylo Ren’s lightsabers — https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/06/star-wars-coca-cola-oled-bottles/ 

NPR article: ‘Star Wars,’ The Trilogy That NPR Turned Into Radio Drama — https://www.npr.org/2019/12/19/789279631/star-wars-the-trilogy-that-npr-turned-into-radio-drama 

BBC Radio 4: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03v379k 

TechCrunch article: China shows off its newest satellite’s high-resolution 3D imagery — https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/11/china-shows-off-its-newest-satellites-high-resolution-3d-imagery/ 

TechCrunch article: This tiny, soft robs-bug scoots with smarts and survives swats — https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/this-tiny-soft-robo-bug-scoots-with-smarts-and-survives-swats/ 

TechCrunch article: Elroy Air’s autonomous hybrid aircraft can now pick up cargo containers on its own — https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/elroy-airs-autonomous-hybrid-aircraft-can-now-pick-up-cargo-containers-on-its-own/ 

Elroy Air — http://www.elroyair.com 

His Boy Elroy — https://thejetsons.fandom.com/wiki/Elroy_Jetson 

Electrek article: Tesla Cybertruck now even gets its own garage: Cybunker — https://electrek.co/2019/12/15/tesla-cybertruck-gets-own-garage-cybunker/ 

Engadget article: A ‘Snow Crash’ TV series is coming to HBO Max — https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/14/snow-crash-tv-series-hbo-max/ 

slashfilm article: AT&T’s “Pause Ads” Will Start Playing Video Ads When You Pause Your TV — https://www.slashfilm.com/pause-ads/ 

Kotaku article: In AI Dungeon 2, You Can Do Anything – – Even Start A Rock Band Made of Skeletons — https://kotaku.com/in-ai-dungeon-2-you-can-do-anything-even-start-a-rock-1840276553 

Game Revolution article: Puma is charging $160 for ‘Gaming Socks’ — https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/624554-puma-gaming-socks-shoes-price 

Michael M’s game picks

The Red Dragon Inn by Slugfest Games — http://slugfestgames.com/games/rdi/ 

Wingspan by Stonemaier Games — https://stonemaiergames.com/games/wingspan/ 

Michael R’s game pick

Warcraft III Reforged by Blizzard Games — https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/warcraft-iii-reforged 


Episode 253 — I dream of electric cows

cow
Photo by Dušan Smetana on Unsplash

Michael and Michael reconnect after Thanksgiving to talk about trucks, virtual reality experiencing cows, bacon, slime molds, Stadia, security and Bond.

This episode is bookended with Tesla stories — starting with a funny tweet from Lego on the new Cybertruck, and ending with Elon Musk’s purchase of one of the Mk.1 Lotus Esprit cars from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me.

In between these automotive pieces, a story about VR-wearing cows moved the co-hosts to consider whether they may dream of electronic sheep, or what virtual reality environment would help increase their milk production.  This reminded Michael M of the California happy cows commercials.

An interesting article on openai.com‘s specifically designed suite of video games to test how quickly a reinforcement learning agent develops the skills needed to master the games also captures Michael and Michael’s attention.  Continuing on the theme of games and game platforms, friend of the show epredator / Ian Hughes’ wrote an insightful blog post about the Google Stadia launch.

Rounding out this week’s episode is a discussion on security, quantum encryption and forward secrecy.

We hope you listen and enjoy! 

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Lego’s take on the Tesla ‘Cybertruck’ comes with innovative roof racks — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/27/legos-take-on-the-tesla-cybertruck-comes-with-innovative-roof-racks/ 

Verdict article: VR for cows: Moove over Oculus Rift, the cows are in town — https://www.verdict.co.uk/vr-cows/ 

California Happy Cows commercials

Zingerman’s — https://www.zingermans.com 

Science Friday segment: The Most Charismatic Single Cell You’ll Meet Today — https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/curoious-creatures-slime-molds/ 

TechCrunch article: This 16-game arcade for AIs tests their playing prowess — https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/03/this-16-game-arcade-for-ais-tests-their-playing-prowess/ 

OpenAI’s Procgen Benchmark game suite — https://openai.com/blog/procgen-benchmark/ 

Feeding Edge blog: The perils for early adopter — Stadia — http://www.feedingedge.co.uk/blog/2019/11/28/the-perils-for-early-adopters-stadia/ 

Schneier on Security blog: RSA-240 Factored — https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2019/12/rsa-240_factore.html 

Forward secrecy — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_secrecy 

MIT Technology Review: Why the rise of the app has put thousands of people in the hospital — https://www.technologyreview.com/f/614861/why-the-rise-of-the-iphone-app-has-put-thousands-of-people-in-hospital/ 

Drivetribe article: Here’s How Elon Musk Bought James Bond’s Lotus Esprit — https://drivetribe.com/p/heres-how-elon-musk-bought-james-JLmFGUfmTFalOeWa_OGYrg?iid=ffM4oq0AR2OXlkojHmHIzQ 

The Spy Who Loved Me — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076752/