Episode 238 — Walkman and Walkbot

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Walkman
Image by fernando zhiminaicela from Pixabay 

“I have a cunning plan” seems an apropos way to start off this week’s episode, but alas, it’s how the episode ends.  Still, there are cunning plans in motion, starting with robots that are capable of self-assembly, deconstruction and self-re-assembly.  Machine learning to translate long-forgotten languages.  3D printing to recreate ancient sculpture from crowdsourced pictures.  Mesh communication without Wi-Fi or cell towers.  Bluetooth enabled Sony Walkman to wirelessly stream cassette music.  Blockchain enabled political action.  All cunning plans, brought to life and discussed by your co-hosts Michael and Michael. Give this episode a listen!

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: MIT develops tiny ‘walking’ motor that helps more complex robots self-assemble — https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/02/mit-develops-tiny-walking-motor-that-help-more-complex-robots-self-assemble/ 

MIT Technology Review article: Machine learning has been used to automatically translate long-lost languages — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613899/machine-learning-has-been-used-to-automatically-translate-long-lost-languages/ 

NavajoCode — https://navajocodetalkers.org 

ZDNet article: Google resurrects Lion of Mosul statue with 3D printing following ISIS destruction — https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-resurrects-lion-of-mosul-with-3d-printing-after-isis-destruction/ 

TechCrunch article: Apple’s iOS 13 update will make FaceTime eye contact way easier — https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/03/apples-ios-13-update-will-make-facetime-eye-contact-way-easier/ 

Business Insider article: Apple’s new iPhone update could solve one of the biggest annoyances about video chatting — https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-13-beta-feature-fakes-eye-contact-in-facetime-2019-7 

BGR article: Oppo’s new messaging app doesn’t need Wi-Fi or even cellular service to send and receive messages — https://bgr.com/2019/06/26/oppo-meshtalk-chat-apps-works-without-internet-wi-fi-or-cellular/ 

VentureBeat article: Oppo’s MeshTalk lets phones exchange data up to 3 kilometers without Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or cell service — https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/26/oppos-meshtalk-technology-lets-phones-exchange-data-up-to-3-kilometers-without-wi-fi-bluetooth-or-cellular-connectivity/ 

Oppo — https://www.oppo.com/en/ 

TechCrunch article: The cassette player finally goes Bluetooth — https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/04/the-cassette-player-finally-goes-bluetooth/ 

Sony Walkman Sports on Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441775044679962556 

TwelveSouth AirFly for AirPods — https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/airfly-for-airpods 

MIT Technology Review article: We the Peeps will use blockchain to try to break the big-money monopoly in politics — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613920/we-the-peeps-will-use-blockchain-to-try-and-break-politics-big-money-monopoly/ 

ArsTechnica article: Microsoft is teasing Windows 1.0 and other 1980s software — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613920/we-the-peeps-will-use-blockchain-to-try-and-break-politics-big-money-monopoly/ 

ArsTechnica article: Rumor has it there’s a cunning plan to bring back Blackadder for fifth season — https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/07/rumor-has-it-theres-a-cunning-plan-to-bring-back-blackadder-for-fifth-season/ 

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Episode 237 — Tasty Robots

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tasty breakfast of yogurt and espresso
Photo by Michael Martine, 2016

Michael and Michael get together to cover a wide span of stories, somehow managing to not mention Star Wars at all (except for this writeup), taking the listeners on an AI, robotic and mind-controlling journey through space and time.  Staring with the new AI innovations from Microsoft to guide presentation rehearsals for success through the ways that AI is being trained, such as with Mannequin Challenge videos to AR stories like the new Harry Potter game and the Apollo 11 experiences celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, the pair do cover significant ground.

All this leads up to a pair of intriguing advances in the field of robotics, where researchers from Carnegie Mellon and UC Davis showcase mind control without surgery, and biosensing robotics that can taste what they touch.   You won’t want to miss this del.icio.us episode of Games At Work! 

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Microsoft PowerPoint gets an AI presentation coach — https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/18/microsofts-powerpoint-will-use-ai-to-make-you-a-better-public-speaker/ 

Clippy — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant 

Clippy on Twitter — https://twitter.com/TheClippy 

The Verge article: Microsoft resurrects Clippy and then brutally kills him off again — https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/22/18276923/microsoft-clippy-microsoft-teams-stickers-removal 

Engadget article: Google researchers trained AI with you Mannequin Challenge videos — https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/27/google-researchers-trained-ai-with-your-mannequin-challenge-vide/ 

The Verge article: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will launch on Friday — https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/18/18684546/harry-potter-wizards-unite-release-date-announced 

TechCrunch article: NASA’s historic Apollo 11 launch comes to your phone in AR — https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/20/nasas-historic-apollo-11-launch-comes-to-your-phone-in-ar/

Lego Lunar Lander — https://shop.lego.com/en-US/product/NASA-Apollo-11-Lunar-Lander-10266 

Games At Work episode 234 with the Statue of Liberty AR experience — https://gamesatwork.biz/2019/05/28/episode-234-bots-in-cars/ 

TechCrunch article: Researchers create first mind-controlled robot arm that work well without surgery — https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/20/researchers-create-first-mind-controlled-robot-arm-that-works-well-without-surgery/ 

Carnegie Mellon University news:  Researchers Develop First Mind-controlled Robotic Arm Without Brain Implants — https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2019/june/mind-controlled-robotic-arm.html 

Emotiv — https://www.emotiv.com 

TechCrunch article: This new experimental robot gripping arm can ‘taste’ what it touches — https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/26/this-new-experimental-robot-gripping-arm-can-taste-what-it-touches/ 

UC Davis — https://www.ucdavis.edu 

Carnegie Mellon — https://www.cmu.edu 

Mashable article: This fake TED Talk about nothing might be the best you’ve ever seen — https://mashable.com/2016/06/12/fake-ted-talk/ 

Rethinc Machine Learning Symposium at UNC, November 2018 — https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/rethinc/ml/ 

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Episode 236 — A Magic Leap for Botkind

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moon
Photo by Eliza Diamond on Unsplash

Michael and Michael start off this episode with a focus on smart glasses, and the use case of how technicians fixing mechanical problems can bring the right manual page to their field of view instantaneously and even collaborate with experts from the home office who can see what they see via AR.  Another use is immersive news, and this example comes via CNN’s use of Magic Leap, followed up quickly by a series of university innovation with HoloLens stemming from Microsoft’s seed program.

Amazon’s drone and bot-based delivery system then take center stage with Michael and Michael discussing some intriguing ways of solving the “last meter” problem where the drone or robot gets almost to your doorstep.  A business model similar to Byrd Chargers or Lime Juicers could be in the works for when these drones and bots run low on electricity!  

Lego — check

Star Wars — double check

cyberpunk novel — oh yes.

WWDC19 in review — you know it! 

Check out this episode!  

Selected Links

Road Show article: BMW’s new smart glasses can put technical drawings right in front of a tech’s eyes — https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw-tsaravision-smart-glasses-repair-diagnostics/ 

Road Show article: Porsche’s Tech Live Look glasses bring AR to the dealership — https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/porsche-augmented-reality-tech-live-look/ 

Magic Leap:  Dive deeper with spatial stories — https://pages.magicleap.com/new-cnn-app-brings-the-news-to-life-1 

New York Times: nytvr — http://www.nytimes.com/marketing/nytvr/ 

Alex Kipman’s tweet:  

ZDNet article: 11 unexpected ways universities are using the Microsoft HoloLens — https://www.zdnet.com/article/11-unexpected-ways-universities-are-using-the-microsoft-hololens/ 

TechCrunch article: A first look at Amazon’s new delivery drone — https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/05/a-first-look-at-amazons-new-delivery-drone/ 

Wired article: How Amazon Cloned a Neighborhood to Test Its Delivery Robots — https://www.wired.com/story/how-amazon-cloned-neighborhood-test-delivery-robots/ 

Financial Panther post: Bird Charger and Lime Juicer – Side Hustling As An Electric Scooter Charger — https://financialpanther.com/bird-charger/ 

Gizmodo article: I Think I Might Be More Excited for the New Lego Star Wars Game Than I Am for Jedi: Fallen Order — https://io9.gizmodo.com/i-think-i-might-be-more-excited-for-the-new-lego-star-w-1835377251 

Slashfilm article: Cool Stuff: Welcome to LEGO ‘Jurassic Park’ with Massive Gate and Buildable Tyrannosaurus Rex — https://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-park-lego-set-gate-and-t-rex/ 

Slate article:  The Mind-Body Solution — https://slate.com/culture/2019/06/neal-stephenson-fall-book-review-dodge-in-hell.html 

Random Thoughts blog post: WWDC Wrap Up — https://michaelrowe01.com/index.php/2019/06/14/wwdc-wrap-up/ 

Sources of voice samples in music: Information Society — http://asciirose.com/s107/information_society.php 

Come with Me by Information Society —
https://music.apple.com/us/album/come-with-me/1288152732?i=1288153255

IMDb Fantastic Voyage — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060397/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 

B-52’s Ultraviolet lyrics — https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/b52s/ultraviolet.html 

Ultraviolet by The B52’s — https://music.apple.com/us/album/ultraviolet/721287617?i=721287630

Sprout: Idle Garden — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sprout-idle-garden/id1447749336 

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Episode 235 — Bots on Batuu

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stormtrooper & c3po
Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash

This episode starts off with a focus on the long history of the iRobot company, and what’s made them successful over these many years, and how the vacuum and mopping robots have found a place in so many homes.  Michael and Michael speculate on the notion of moving to a service – where the bots might be delivered to the home by autonomous vehicles – harkening back to the discussion in the previous episode, with the Ford delivery car having a robot for the last 10m for package delivery – and clean your house through a bot-door, a secure futuristic doggie door.  Michael R remembers a couple of examples of robots that fold laundry and Michael M chimes in with the Kon-Mari method of folding shirts.

The pair discuss the latest version of the HP VR backpack computer, which provides the compute power for a tether less VR experience, bringing back the usual idea of how AR > VR.  

In the department of brain science, Michael and Michael check out an article on music building the brains of premature babies.  Another example that highlights the relationship between music, mathematics and learning is Michael M’s mother-in-law Janet Fox’s book A Well Tempered Mind, which she co-authored with Peter Perret.

Star Wars is part of our everyday world, and it is difficult to go 24 hours without the galaxy, far, far away being part of our daily consciousness.  This episode is no different, and the in addition to the droid references, the pair discusses the recent opening of the Galaxy’s Edge, which features a chance for Disney park visitors to pilot the Millennium Falcon.  The real ride, however, is the entire land, replete with easter eggs to discover from the multiple movies, in-character Disney cast members to interact with, and even food & beverage from the movies.  Even while waiting in line, park visitors may interact with the Star Wars environment via an alternate reality game through the Disney app, inviting the player to become part of the Resistance themselves and go on side quests.  Reminiscent of the highly successful alternate reality game launched in BMW films The Hire series, the opportunity to be part of the Star Wars universe on a very personal level is certainly appealing to those that have had a very steady media diet of all things Star Wars over the past 4 decades.

We conclude this episode with the exciting news that Michael R will be in California next week, as an attendee at WWDC19, and you can get his play by play on the event over on https://michaelrowe01.com 

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: iRobot’s newest mop and vacuum talk to each other to better clean up — https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/28/irobots-newest-mop-and-vacuum-talk-to-each-other-to-better-clean-up/ 

ZDNet article: How iRobot used data science, cloud and DevOps to design its next-gn smart home robots — https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-irobot-used-data-science-cloud-and-devops-to-design-its-next-gen-smart-home-robots/ 

Gizmodo article: RIP Your Dreams of Never Folding Laundry Again, the Laundroid Is Dead — https://gizmodo.com/rip-your-dreams-of-never-folding-laundry-again-the-lau-1834237514 

Foldimate — https://foldimate.com 

Marie Kondo — https://konmari.com/pages/about

Gizmodo article: HP’s Revamped VR Backpack Delivers the Closest Think to True VR Freedom Yet — https://gizmodo.com/hps-revamped-vr-backpack-delivers-the-closest-thing-to-1835010729 

The Verge article: Nreal’s AR sunglasses cost $499 and should ship in ‘limited quantities’ this year — https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18646160/nreal-light-ar-xr-qualcomm-snapdragon-sunglasses-consumer-price-shipping-release-5g 

TechCrunch article: Once poised to kill the mouse and keyboard, Leap Motion plays its final hand — https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/30/once-poised-to-kill-the-mouse-and-keyboard-leap-motion-plays-its-final-hand/ 

ultrahaptics — https://www.ultrahaptics.com 

Mashable article: Pokemon’s new game lets you catch ‘em all while you sleep — https://mashable.com/article/pokemon-sleep-cloud-game/ 

EurekAlert! article: Music helps to build the brains of very premature babies — https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/udg-mht052719.php 

A Well-Tempered Mind by Peter Perret & Janet Fox — https://www.amazon.com/Well-Tempered-Mind-Using-Children-Listen/dp/1932594086 

CNN travel article: First Look: Living, breathing, eating Star Wars in Disney’s new theme park land — https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/disneyland-star-wars-galaxys-edge-preview/index.html 

io9 Gizmodo blog: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Is Here: The Good, the Bad, and the Incredible — https://io9.gizmodo.com/star-wars-galaxys-edge-is-here-the-good-the-bad-and-1835129231 

Vanity Fair article: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Ultimate Preview — https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/05/star-wars-cover-story 

BMW film series The Hire alternate reality game — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hire#Contest/game_&_party 

Jalopnik article: BMW’s The Hire Was Ahead Of The Curve And Still Has No Equal — https://jalopnik.com/bmws-the-hire-was-ahead-of-the-curve-and-still-has-no-833978195 

Random Thoughts, Michael Rowe’s blog — https://michaelrowe01.com 

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