Episode 244 — Who’s your secret crush?

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neon sign reading "I have a crush on you"
Photo by Leonardo Sanches on Unsplash

This episode starts off with a virtual tour of 17th century London, courtesy of the Pudding Lane team’s entry to a British Library Digital Scholarship a couple of years ago.  The experience created with Crytek’s CRYENGINE holds up over the years, and the detail included in this entry is phenomenal, from the rope at the docks to the textures of the window glass, and the rooms they gently obscure behind them.

Secret crushes feature prominently in the new Facebook Dating capabilities, which have just now been deployed to the US Facebook app.  It will be very interesting to see how the user population begins to take advantage of the new functionality.

Star Wars makes a musical appearance courtesy of the British musician Sam Battle, where Lego droids form an entire orchestra to play the John Williams theme.  Also included in the VOTD link is a longer making-of video that is well worth checking out.  Continuing with A New Hope, Lego debuts the Ultimate Collector Series Imperial Star Destroyer battleship from the opening of the the movie, and the 4,784 piece set, along with a couple of minifigs and a to-scale model of the Tantive IV, which is pretty tiny, can be yours for a cool $699.

The cohosts round out this episode with an announcement story from the House House team about a new game called Untitled Goose Game, and some anticipation of the Apple event coming up next week.

Selected Links

Open Culture article: Prize-Winning Animation Lets You Fly Through 17th Century London — http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/fly-through-17th-century-london.html 

British Library Digital Scholarship blog: Off The Map Winners Announced — https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2013/10/off-the-map-winners-announced.html 

Pudding Lane blog — http://puddinglanedmuga.blogspot.com 

Crytek’s CRYENGINE — https://www.crytek.com/cryengine 

9To5Mac article: Facebook Dating available now, with Secret Crush feature, but concerns raised — https://9to5mac.com/2019/09/06/facebook-dating/ 

Daily Tech News Show episode: You’re in My Facebook Top 9 – DTNS 3610 — http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/youre-in-my-facebook-top-9-dtns-3610/ 

Marsbot — https://marsbotapp.com 

SlashFilm article: VOTD: Watch the ‘Star Wars’ Theme Played by a LEGO Droid Orchestra with Real Instruments — https://www.slashfilm.com/lego-droids-play-the-star-wars-theme/

Ars Technica article:  This $700 Lego Star Destroyer is as close as you’ll get to the real thing — https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/09/this-700-lego-star-destroyer-is-as-close-as-youll-get-to-the-real-thing/ 

CNN article: A gaming company is releasing something called “Untitled Goose Game” and people are losing their honking minds — https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/30/entertainment/honking-goose-game-trnd/index.html 

Untitled Goose Game — https://goose.game 

House House tweet

Apple tweet

NC State Author Event: Felicia Day, Embrace Your Weird — https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/events/author-event-felicia-day 

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Episode 243 — Droning on about Robots

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photo of drone flying overhead in a forest
Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash

Bots, drones, and immersive experiences abound in this episode of Games At Work.  Michael and Michael start things off with some new insight about the Minecraft Earth closed beta limited availability — which explains why they have not yet had the chance to try it out!  On the other hand, Nintendo’s newest contribution is about to hit the app store in the form of Mario Kart tour for iOS.

The North Carolina company Lucid Drone Tech has a solution for pressure washing homes and buildings in a drone-powered way.  This leads to the suggestion that similarly equipped drones could be used to specifically target lawn watering.  Michael R mentions the Mavic Pro as the drone on his wish list.  And how about that video of the Robosen T9?  More than meets the eye, for sure! 

The Disney Imagineering team has majorly outdone themselves with the announcement of the newest hotel property – the Halcyon, a galactic starship where are you are immersively experienced in the Star Wars universe, interacting with characters and living out your story.  Michael R shares how he’s been reminiscing in the World of Warcraft immersive virtual world of Azeroth with WoW Classic.  

A veritable trifecta – containing Lego, Star Wars and drones, this episode has it all!  

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Minecraft Earth closed beta goes live on Android in five cities — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/30/minecraft-earth-closed-beta-goes-live-on-android-in-five-cities/ 

TechCrunch article: Mario Kart Tour arrives on iOS and Android on September 25 — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/mario-kart-tour-arrives-on-ios-and-android-on-september-25/ 

Mario Kart Tour Pre-Order on App Store — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mario-kart-tour/id1293634699 

Super Luigi Bros article: The Evolution of Mario — http://www.superluigibros.com/evolution-of-mario 

Inverse article: 5 Best Coding Games for Kids — https://www.inverse.com/article/58713-best-coding-games-for-kids 

The Verge article:  Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset may go on sale in September — https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/29/20838085/microsofts-hololens-2-headset-release-date-september 

xinhua.net article: Shanghai hosts 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference to boost innovation — http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/29/c_138347768_2.htm 

TechCrunch article: 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/ 

Lucid Drone Tech — https://www.luciddronetech.com 

DJI Mavic Pro — https://www.dji.com/mavic 

Ian Hughes tweet on Robosen T9

Robosen T9 Kickstarter page — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/890011357/the-worlds-first-intelligent-auto-transforming-rob 

Mashable article: Disney unveils new details about Galactic Starcruiser, the Star Wars hotel — https://mashable.com/article/star-wars-galactic-starcruiser-hotel-resort-details/ 

starwars.com article: D23 Expo 2019: Step Aboard The Halcyon, The New Star Wars Vacation Experience — https://www.starwars.com/news/d23-expo-2019-star-wars-galactic-starcruiser 

Mashable article: ‘World of Warcraft Classic’ developers reminisce about old Azeroth — https://mashable.com/article/world-of-warcraft-classic-interview/ 

PeakVisor — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/peakvisor/id1187259191 

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Episode 242 — Random Walk

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Random walk through a forest
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Minecraft is back in the the Games At Work feed for this episode because of the improvements in both the ray tracing and AR capabilities included in Minecraft Earth.  Michael and Michael agree that the ray tracing takes Minecraft a bit too far away from the 8-bit roots, while the ability to build in AR is right up their proverbial alley.  

After checking out a few other AR apps from the Mashable list, the co-hosts marvel at what appears at first to be a random walk by several people looking intently at their phones, but in reality is a group who are rapidly mapping in 3D their surroundings using only their phone cameras and a new api from 6D.ai.  While certainly an expected feature and need for autonomous vehicles, the ability to create dynamic maps in real time by walking around with your camera could prove to be enormously valuable, and make everyone a contributor to keeping maps up to date.

Rounding out this episode with a discussion on bluetooth security and the cat and mouse efforts with credit card skimmers, Michael and Michael didn’t have quite enough time to talk about all the cool articles from the week.  The ones they thought interesting are included in the bonus links below.  

Check out the links and have a listen to the podcast!

Selected Links

The Next Web article: Minecraft with ray tracing looks so good I actually want to play it — https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2019/08/19/minecraft-with-ray-tracing-looks-so-good-i-actually-want-to-play-it/ 

Andy Piper’s tweet about Minecraft Earth

Minecraft Earth — https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/earth 

Macworld article: 10 augmented reality apps for iPhone and iPad you should be using right now — https://www.macworld.com/article/3390180/best-augmented-reality-ar-apps-for-ios-iphone-ipad.html 

New World Notes article: Watch: Real World Location Virtually Recreated To Scale In Minutes — https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2019/08/volumetric-mirror-world-mapping-6d_ai.html 

6D.ai — https://www.6d.ai 

SLAM, Simultaneous localization and mapping — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_mapping 

New World Notes article:  Sansar Getting Experience Points & Questions — Smart Break From Linden Labs’s Past “Second Life Is Not a Game” Mistake — https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2019/08/sansar-linden-lab-social-vr-backstory-quest-system.html 

UC San Diego News Center: App Allows Inspectors to Find Gas Pump Skimmers Faster — https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/bluetana 

TWiT network: Security Now episode 728: The KNOB is Broken — https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/728?autostart=false 

Mashable article: Bluetooth is bad and you should stop using it — https://mashable.com/article/bluetooth-is-bad/ 

Bonus links

TechCrunch article: Silicone 3D printing startup Spectroplast spins out of ETHZ with $1.5M — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/22/silicone-3d-printing-startup-spectroplast-spins-out-of-ethz-with-1-5m/ 

Spectroplast —  https://spectroplast.com 

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences article: The RoboBee flies solo — https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2019/06/robobee-flies-solo 

TechCrunch article: Mobile gaming is a $68.5 billion global business, and investors are buying in — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/22/mobile-gaming-mints-money/ 

ESPN article: Introducing a new way to rate college football players — https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/PSimpactrating0819/introducing-new-way-rate-college-football-players 

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Episode 241 — Smarty Pants

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jeans with Raspberry Pi in the pocket
Photo by Michael Martine, 2019.

Gear up with automotive embedded AR innovations that do not require glasses to experience.  Michael and Michael discuss the relative merits of this method of automotive user experience agains the classic HUD, and come to the conclusion that placing the information on the windshield has some key advantages, and also does not require AR glasses.  

For those that are not driving by the seat of their pants, and instead want to get up and walk around, this episode also has something for you:  a hip exosuit developed by Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering along with the University of Nebraska Omaha.  These smart shorts give the wearer a robotic boost while running or walking.  And the smart clothing doesn’t stop there — researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a textile technology they are calling metamaterial to establish stronger connections faster, which will have the benefit of saving on battery life for the wireless devices we have with us all the time.  Imagine the combination of the exosuit with such metamaterial!  Now that would truly be some smarty pants!

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Bosch is working on glasses-free 3D displays for in-car use — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/12/bosch-is-working-on-glasses-free-3d-displays-for-in-car-use/ 

VR Scout article: Mercedes-Benz Looks To Replace Owner’s Manual With AR App — https://vrscout.com/news/mercedes-benz-ar-owners-manual/ 

MIT Technology Review — These bionic shorts help turn an epic hike into a leisurely stroll — https://www.technologyreview.com/f/614178/these-bionic-shorts-help-turn-an-epic-hike-into-a-leisurely-stroll/ 

TechCrunch article: These robo-shorts are the precursor to a true soft exoskeleton — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/15/these-robo-shorts-are-the-precursor-to-a-true-soft-exoskeleton/ 

Science article: Witnessing a wearables transition — https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6454/636 

Wyss Institute article: 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/ 

ReWalk Robotics — https://rewalk.com 

Reuters article: ‘Smart’ clothing can boost wearable tech: Singapore researchers — https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-technology/smart-clothing-can-boost-wearable-tech-singapore-researchers-idUSKCN1V50VK 

Wired article: A Photographer Made A Working Replica of NASA’s Moon Camera — https://www.wired.com/story/a-photographer-made-a-working-replica-of-nasas-moon-camera/ 

ZD Net article: Apple sued for not disclosing that ‘iCloud storage’ relies on third-party cloud services — https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-sued-for-not-disclosing-that-icloud-storage-relies-on-aws-azure-google/ 

It’s electric!  Boogie woogie, woogie! 



I Hanker for a Hunka Cheese 

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