Episode 248 — Distractions

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squirrel in tree
Photo by Toimetaja tõlkebüroo on Unsplash

Michael and Michael get together for a distraction-filled episode, including innovations from London Cocktail Week, x-ray spec radio cameras, the potential for soldiers to be distracted on the battle field with their screens and how rocket ride sharing along with payload standardization are making launching satellites into orbit easier than ever.

Check out the episode and links below!  We think you’ll be — oh, look!  A squirrel! 

Selected Links

Slate article: What, and Why, Is a Whisky Pod? — https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/10/whisky-pod-edible-seaweed-encased-cocktails-why.html 

Notpla — https://www.notpla.com 

The Glenlivet — https://www.theglenlivet.com/ 

London Cocktail Week 2019 — https://drinkup.london/cocktailweek 

Tubthumping – They Might Be Giants & The AV Club Chorus

MIT Technology Review article: Machine vision has learned to use radio waves to see through walls and in darkness — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614470/machine-vision-has-learned-to-use-radio-waves-to-see-through-walls-and-in-darkness/ 

Wired article: The Dangers of Distracted Fighting — https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangers-of-distracted-fighting/ 

MIT Technology Review article: Rocket ride-shares could make going to space like catching a bus — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614519/rocket-ride-shares-could-make-going-to-space-like-catching-a-bus/ 

NASA article: NASA Mission Supports Launch of CubeSats Built by Middle and High School Students — https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-mission-supports-launch-of-cubesats-built-by-middle-and-high-school-students 

What’s Happening!! TV Show Intro 70’s — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZG97YMWTn0&feature=youtu.be

Ultimate Metal forum post: Barry Manilow loves Iron Maiden — http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/barry-manilow-loves-iron-maiden.206724/ 

Roseanne Roseannadanna — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne_Roseannadanna 

boas.io — https://boas.io 

slither.io — http://slither.io 

Spaceland — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spaceland/id1450972094 

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Episode 246 — Ninja Stealth Robots

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robotic helmet
Photo by Conor Luddy on Unsplash

A pair of Boston Dynamics robots catch Michael & Michael’s attention this week — Atlas, with it’s amazing (and quiet!) ninja parkour capabilities, and Spot, now being made available to the market.  

Several cool applications are part of this week’s program, from High Fidelity’s app to create VR avatars, to celebrity voices for Alexa & TomTom navigation, to improving your surfing skills via Surfline, to making better consumer choices in the grocery store with Yuka and Seafood Watch, and tracking the value of the time spent in meetings with our very own cohost Michael Rowe’s WastedTime app.

An interesting account of a couple’s backstory and costume construction for their vacation to Disney’s recently opened Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge sparks a conversation on how entertainment is evolving to become more and more immersive.

Surf on over, dive right in, and give this episode a listen!

Selected Links

Tech Crunch article: Atlas the humanoid robot shows off a new and improved gymnastics routine — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/atlas-the-humanoid-robot-shows-off-a-new-and-improved-gymnastics-routine/ 

Wired article: Spot, the 4-Legged Robot, Is Ready to Go for a Walk — https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-424/ 

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

Venture Beat article: High Fidelity’s new mobile app turns your selfies in to VR avatars — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/22/high-fidelitys-new-mobile-app-turns-your-selfies-into-vr-avatars/ 

High Fidelity — https://www.highfidelity.com 

High Fidelity movie — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/ 

USA today article: Amazon to offer Samuel L. Jackson voice for Alexa.  He’ll curse, if you want — https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/09/25/samuel-l-jackson-first-celebrity-voice-amazon-alexa/2447992001/ 

Samuel L. Jackson – celebrity voice for Alexa — https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-L-Jackson-celebrity-voice/dp/B07WS3HN5Q 

TomTom Mr. T voice — https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/drive/maps-services/shop/navigation-voices/mr-t/ 

Kotaku article: Three Months of Prep Made Our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Trip Amazing — https://kotaku.com/three-months-of-prep-made-our-star-wars-galaxys-edge-t-1838364921 

CNet article: Star Wars meets ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ in epic geeky parody — https://www.cnet.com/news/star-wars-meets-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-geeky-musical-parody/ 

Man of Many article: Surfline Sessions and an Apple Watch Can Record You Surfing — https://manofmany.com/outdoors/surf/surfline-sessions-and-an-apple-watch-can-record-you-surfing 

Yuka — https://yuka.io/en/ 

Science Friday September 27, 2019 The Latest IPCC Report: A Global Warning On Ice and Oceans — https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/september-2019-ipcc-report-ice-oceans/ 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app — https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/our-app 

Drive article: New South Wales drivers using phones behind the wheel are in the firing line, with the state to permanently roll out its phone-detection cameras — https://m.drive.com.au/news/nsw-phone-monitoring-cameras-going-live-this-year-122500.html 

Nintendo LABO Builders tweet

Nintendo LABO — https://labo.nintendo.com 

WastedTime Watch! app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wastedtime-watch/id1478660347 

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Episode 245 — Ayes & Ears

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glasses and earbuds
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Augmentation abounds in this edition of Games At Work!  Starting off with a wearable that you wear as a suit, Michael and Michael talk about the amazing Teslasuit, with its haptic feedback system and muscle-memory developing capabilities for learning, and teaching how to move your body.  The next augmentation is from Bose, with the AR Frames, and have the augmented positional audio is used via these glasses to give an even more immersive experience to gameplay.  Michael and Michael “spec”ulate on how the combination of Bose audio technology could be combined with Magic Leap, Hololens or other AR glasses.  Michael R introduces another wearable – the MN8 earbuds from Emotiv which allow the collection of brain data without looking like a cyborg.  Michael M is reminded then of the biometric possibilities of the ear canal, which actually has been a promising way for unique identification for a number of years.

Switching from wearables to software, the co-hosts marvel at the AI and machine learning powered Relonch AI app which puts the power of a Hollywood lighting crew in your phone to make amazing effects effortless.  While not currently available in the US App Store, Michael and Michael hope that it will be available soon.  And for those that want a hard copy of their digital pictures, have a look at the Polaroid Lab, which creates a hard copy picture of your cell phone picture just like the Polaroid camera did.

Selected Links

International Talk Like a Pirate Day — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day 

Teslasuit — https://teslasuit.io 

VentureBeat article: Bose’s AR Frames get a narrative gaming boost — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/15/boses-ar-frames-get-a-narrative-gaming-boost-from-the-team-behind-that-dragon-cancer/

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

The Dragon, Cancer — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Dragon,_Cancer 

Episode 219 — Do You Hear What I Hear — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/12/10/episode-218-do-you-hear-what-i-hear/ 

Emotiv blog: The Real Future of Work — https://www.emotiv.com/blog/the-real-future-of-work/ 

Gizmodo article: Researchers Think It’s a Good Idea to Secure Your Phone Using the One Thing You Perpetually Lose — https://gizmodo.com/researchers-think-its-a-good-idea-to-secure-your-phone-1838248232 

Wired article: Ears Could Make Better Unique IDs Than Fingerprints — https://www.wired.com/2010/11/ears-biometric-identification/ 

Relonch AI — https://relonch.com 

TechCrunch article: The Polaroid Lab uses the light from your phone’s screen to turn digital photos into Polaroids — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/10/the-polaroid-lab-uses-the-light-from-your-phones-screen-to-turn-digital-photos-into-polaroids/ 

Scienmag article: UNC-Chapel Hill To Lead $20 Million Project To Test A Reimagined Internet — https://scienmag.com/unc-chapel-hill-to-lead-20-million-project-to-test-a-reimagined-internet/ 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:49 — 16.1MB) | Embed

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