Episode 252 — I want a new truck

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classic red truck
Photo by Gilles Desjardins on Unsplash

One of the big news stories from this week was the newly announced Tesla Cybertruck, which caught the eyes of our cohosts Michael and Michael.  The pair discuss the design aesthetics, how it may appeal to the prototypical truck buyer (Michael R reveals he is a past truck owner!), and opportunities to extend the range of the vehicle by loading up the truck bed with Tesla Powerwalls as Michael M suggests.  Over the weekend, there are plenty of memes snared about the Cybertruck, and an amazing number of orders placed.

Tesla is not the only electric vehicle company, and the cohosts talk about, the new Mercedes EQC, and the amazing engineering efforts from Boeing to complete a prototype flying car in only a year.  Check out the podcast for the futuristic challenges that flying cars will bring.

Turning to AI, and how interaction with a chatbot could be ideally suited to the task, Michael and Michael discuss Roo, Planned Parenthood’s chatbot for helping young people learn more about sex education on their own terms, and with privacy being a major factor.  The pair also marvel at the sophisticated technological leaps that Reallusion have made with their new Headshot capability.  

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: What we learned on our Tesla Cyberetruck ride — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/22/what-we-learned-on-our-tesla-cybertruck-ride/ 

Family Handyman article: 10 Vintage Trucks That Never Went Out of Style — https://www.familyhandyman.com/automotive/10-vintage-trucks-that-never-went-out-of-style/ 

BBC News article: Cybertruck: Tesla truck gets 150,000 orders despite launch gaffe — https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50536200 

I want a new duck 

Techcrunch article: Mercedes prices it’s all-electric EQC crossover at $67,900 — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/20/mercedes-prices-its-all-electric-eqc-crossover-at-67900/ 

Mercedes-Benz EQC SUV —  https://www.mbusa.com/en/vehicles/class/eqc/suv 

Boeing’s flying cars

Vox article: America’s sex education system is broken.  This chatbot wants to be the solution. — https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/17/20965326/sex-education-planned-parenthood-chatbot-roo-reset-podcast 

Roo by Planned Parenthood — https://roo.plannedparenthood.org/ 

Headshot by Reallusion — https://www.reallusion.com/character-creator/headshot/default.html 

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Episode 251 — Delivering Maclunkey

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fragile small delivery
Photo by jesse ramirez on Unsplash

Beginning a long time ago in a cantina far, far away, the co-hosts discuss the continuing changing saga of who shot first with the newest “enhanced edition” of the iconic scene with Han Solo and Greedo on the Disney+ release of Star Wars: A New Hope.  Michael R shares his experience with the new NASA app that allows you to pilot either the Boeing Starliner or Space X Crew Dragon to a successful docking.  

The article on BMW’s gesture control triggers Michael and Michael’s memories of using the Palm OS Graffiti script, and makes them wonder whether there will be a ubiquitous user experience for gesture control.

North Carolina makes history with CVS and UPS pairing up for the first paid drone home delivery of prescriptions in Cary after the success UPS has had with their drones at WakeMed in Raleigh.

The pair marvel at the internet of beer AI smart taps and the MIT mini-cheetah robots playing soccer, as well as the new LEGO rendition of the 1989 Batmobile.  Closing out this week’s episode on a musical note, Michael and Michael talk about the FreddieMeter, which uses AI to show how much like Freddie Mercury your voice is when you belt out Bohemian Rhapsody, and reflect on the upcoming 40th anniversary of Pac-Man with the classic Buckner & Garcia tune, Pac-Man Fever.

Hope you enjoy the ‘cast as well as the links below! 

Selected Links

BuzzFeed article:  “Star Wars: A New Hope” Changed The Iconic Han Solo And Greedo Scene (Again) For Disney+ — https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/star-wars-han-solo-greedo-scene-changed-again-disney-plus 

TechCrunch article: New NASA app puts you in the pilot’s seat of Boeing’s Starliner or SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/13/new-nasa-app-puts-you-in-the-pilots-seat-of-boeings-starliner-or-spacexs-crew-dragon/ 

Ender’s Game by Orsen Scott Card — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender’s_Game 

Wikipedia article: Lunar Lander (1979 video game) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lander_(1979_video_game) 

TechCrunch article: BMW’s magical gesture control finally makes sense as touchscreens take over cars — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/04/bmws-magical-gesture-control-finally-makes-sense-as-touchscreens-take-over-cars/ 

Wingarium Leviosa

Wikipedia article: Graffiti (Palm OS) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS) 

designboom article: pubinno’s ‘internet of beer’ uses AI powered smart taps to serve the perfect pint — https://www.designboom.com/technology/pubinno-internet-of-beer-ai-powered-smart-taps-11-12-2019/ 

engadget article: CVS starts delivering prescriptions to homes via UPS drones — https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/05/ups-and-cvs-complete-drone-prescription-delivery/ 

TechCrunch article: Watch MIT’s ‘mini cheetah’ robots frolic, fall, flip — and play soccer together — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/09/watch-mits-mini-cheetah-robots-frolic-fall-flip-and-play-soccer-together/ 

MIT’s Biomimetic Robotics Lab — http://biomimetics.mit.edu/videos 

slashfilm article: ‘Batman’ is Getting a Big Anniversary LEGO Set of the 1989 Batmobile — https://www.slashfilm.com/batman-1989-lego-batmobile/ 

engadget article: Google AI can tell you how close your voice is to Freddie Mercury’s — https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/14/google-freddie-mercury-freddiemeter/ 

FreddieMeter — https://freddiemeter.withyoutube.com 

Nintendolife article: Pac-Man Turns 40 Next Year And Bandai Namco Plans To Celebrate In Style — http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/pac-man_turns_40_next_year_and_bandai_namco_plans_to_celebrate_in_style 

Pac-Man Fever 

Too Legit to Quit

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Episode 250 — See Clearly Now

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double rainbow
Picture by Michael Martine, 2016

Celebrating the 250th episode of Games At Work, Michael and Michael focus this week on several stories about augmented vision.  The rumored Apple Glasses resurface, and speaking of surfaces, a new kickstarter for holographic tabletop gaming takes center stage, reminding Michael and Michael about some earlier conversations on other virtual tabletop concepts.  Michael R discusses his passions for flying robots, and the amazing camera shots that can be done with the Mavic Mini, a 249g drone that can go just about anywhere you do.  

And this episode doesn’t stop with bots that fly.  MIT’s self-assembling and swarming cubes capture the interest of the co-hosts, and recall the novel from Daniel Suarez about swarming technology, as well as episode 150.  Rounding out this episode is a must-see example of a science fair prototype that 14-year-old Alaina Gassler built to solve the problem of the A-pillar blind spot in automobiles.  Her creativity is astounding, and it is easy to see how this will be a great way to augment drivers’ vision in the very near future!

Happy viewing (and listening!)

Selected Links

I Can See Clearly Now 

Seeking Alpha article: Apple Pay overtakes PayPal – Appleinsider — https://seekingalpha.com/news/3513168-apple-pay-overtakes-paypal-appleinsider 

iMore article: Yelp updates Apple Watch app with compass support for Apple Watch Series 5 — https://www.imore.com/yelp-updates-apple-watch-app-compass-support-apple-watch-series-5 

tom’s guide article: Apple Glasses Details Just Revealed by Bloomberg — https://www.tomsguide.com/news/apple-glasses-details-just-revealed-by-bloomberg 

Bloomberg Businessweek article: Apple’s Smart Glasses Could Make 2020 the Year of AR — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-21/why-2020-is-looking-great-for-apple-products-and-consumer-gadgets 

The Verge article: Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion — https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/1/20943318/google-fitbit-acquisition-fitness-tracker-announcement 

Kickstarter: Tilt Five: Holographic Tabletop Gaming — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiltfive/holographic-tabletop-gaming 

VR Scout article: Geek & Sundry Debuts Weekly VR180 Board Game Series — https://vrscout.com/news/geek-sundry-vr180-board-game-series/# 

gamesatwork.biz episode 199 — Augmented GDPR Reality — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/05/28/episode-199-augmented-gdpr-reality/ 

DJI Mavic Mini — https://www.dji.com/mavic-mini?from=store-product-page 

Real Clear Science article: New Lithium Ion Battery Design Could Allow Electric Vehicles to Be Charged in Ten Minutes — https://www.realclearscience.com/quick_and_clear_science/2019/10/30/new_lithium_ion_battery_design_could_allow_electric_vehicles_to_be_charged_in_ten_minutes.html 

electrek.co article: Tesla plans to increase vehicle power, range, and charging through new software update — https://electrek.co/2019/10/24/tesla-increase-vehicle-power-range-software-update/ 

TechCrunch article: MIT’s self-propelled block robots can now manage basic swarm coordination — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/01/mits-self-propelled-block-robots-can-now-manage-basic-swarm-coordination/

Discussion on swarming robots from gamesatwork.biz episode 150 — Cyber Dementors — https://gamesatwork.biz/2016/10/23/episode-150-cyber-dementors/ 

Kill Decision novel by Daniel Suarez — http://daniel-suarez.com/killdecisionsynopsis.html 

The Verge article: Snapchat now lets you 3D Paint faces and pretty much anything else — https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/30/20939665/snapchat-augmented-reality-drawing-lens-ar-bar 

Mashable article: Teen girl invents simple, yet innovative way to remove blind spots in cars — https://mashable.com/article/blind-spot-invention-teen-girl-broadcom/ 

BuzzFeed article: 398 New Emojis Are Officially Here And FYI They’re Pretty Freakin’ Great — https://www.buzzfeed.com/ajanibazile/398-new-emojis 

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Episode 249 — Oceans of Data

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Moonrise on Hatteras Island, Michael Martine 2011

While somehow avoiding any discussion of the Green Lantern Corps, Michael and Michael talk through some ring wearable concepts and move into the religious quantified self realm with the eRosary, an IoT device to help keep track of prayers.  It is incredible to imagine the data streams coming from such devices.

Changing themes from data streams to the open oceans, and specifically to Coral Vita’s novel means for coral reef rebuilding, growing coral at 50 times the normal rates.  Imagine the impact this could bring to restoring the health of the ocean habitats. This story reminded Michael M of a novel approach that University of Lancaster researchers are working on to strengthen concrete using carrots and sugar beet fibers.  

Also in this episode, there are conversations on Sonos’ stereo-as-a-service offering, robots machine learning their way to a feel for how to grasp objects and solve a Rubik’s cube one handed, boarding alerts now being included in the American Airlines mobile app and some retro & current games.  

Selected Links

iDrop article: ‘Apple Ring’ May Be in Development with Touch Screen, NFC and More — https://www.idropnews.com/rumors/apple-ring-may-be-in-development-with-touch-screen-nfc-and-more/120605/ 

Echo Loop Smart Ring with Alexa Day 1 Editions product — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JPK4XJ6/ref=sxts_snpl_1_0_53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb?pd_rd_w=PxX63&pf_rd_p=53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb&pf_rd_r=FZDY1EWCREPCPZNAMQH1&pd_rd_r=c7ff58c4-976c-4a2a-9cd5-f42cdfdcade4&pd_rd_wg=ih389&qid=1571584953 

CNBC article: Vatican launches $110 smart Rosary bracelet that tracks your prayers — https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/vatican-launches-110-smart-rosary-bracelet-that-tracks-your-prayers.html 

Click to Pray (how does it work?) — https://clicktopray.org/how-does-click-to-pray-work/ 

Click to Pray eRosary app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/click-to-pray-erosary/id1477960251 

TechCrunch article: In the Accelerator over the Sea — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/16/in-the-accelerator-over-the-sea/ 

Beyond the Sea

Coral Vita — https://www.coralvita.co 

Japan Times article — Carrot nanomaterial found to make cement stronger and greener — https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/20/world/offbeat-world/carrot-nanomaterial-found-make-cement-stronger-greener/#.Xax_EC-ZOuB 

CelluComp’s Curran: Revolutionary Technology: Vegetables used for high-performance materials — https://www.cellucomp.com/products/curran 

Motley Fool article: Is Sonons’ Speaker Rental Program as Odd as it Sounds? — https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/10/17/is-sonos-speaker-rental-program-as-odd-as-it-sound.aspx 

TechCrunch article: MIT develops a way for robots to grasp and manipulate objects much faster — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/17/mit-develops-a-way-for-robots-to-grasp-and-manipulate-objects-much-faster/ 

Episode 247: Off the Cuff — https://gamesatwork.biz/2019/10/07/episode-247-off-the-cuff/ 

TechCrunch article: Traptic uses 3D vision and robotic arms to harvest ripe strawberries — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/02/traptic-uses-3d-vision-and-robotic-arms-to-harvest-ripe-strawberries/ 

TechCrunch article: Watch OpenAI’s ‘human-like’ robot solve a Rubik’s Cube one-handed — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/15/watch-openais-human-like-robot-solve-a-rubiks-cube-one-handed/ 

Rubik’s Cube 40 years of history — https://www.rubiks.com/en-us/about 

The Points Guy: American Airlines (finally) rolls out boarding push notifications to all app users — https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-boarding-push-notifications/ 

Trusted Reviews article: Here’s how to access thousands of retro games for free — https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/free-retro-games-3946453 

Sensible Soccer International Edition v1.2 (1994) — https://archive.org/details/msdos_International_Sensible_Soccer_1994 

SSC 2019 The King of Retro Soccer — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ssc-2019/id1451802899 

Lego Ideas Dinosaur Fossils — https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/dinosaur-fossils-21320 

What the Golf? — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/what-the-golf/id1415190483 

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