Episode 230 – Dance this AR Around

By | |
Comments Off on Episode 230 – Dance this AR Around
Photo by Fancycrave.com from Pexels

This week’s episode focuses on how augmented reality can change how fashion is immediately distributed across the world in real time, broadcasting images from the runway to wherever the user wishes to view the show.  Also, an intriguing use case for uniform and retail clothing sales using AR to allow people to virtually try on their clothing in an industry 4.0 mass customization way, saving money, and further integrating supply chains.

The co-hosts have another interesting privacy and security discussion, this time dealing with the CourtTech idea of using mobile apps, AI and geolocation to facilitate faster resolution of custody issues, and ensure adherence to court-mandated decisions.  

The team wraps up with a couple of examples of tech companies shutting down, per the reports on the robot Jibo and electric automotive company Faraday Future.

Selected Links

Forbes article: Groundbreaking Augmented Reality Fashion Show Streamed to Global Audience — https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookerobertsislam/2019/03/05/groundbreaking-augmented-reality-fashion-show-streamed-to-global-audience 

Gary York’s tweet — 


Retail TouchPoints article:  When New Technologies Like Augmented Reality Help You See Your Business Differently — https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/executive-viewpoints/when-new-technologies-like-augmented-reality-help-you-see-your-business-differently

Mashable article: Custody dispute? A judge can order you to use this app with your ex. — https://mashable.com/article/coparenter-app-court-mandate-privacy-concerns 

coParenter app — https://coparenter.com 

Engadget article: Social robot Jibo does one last dance before its servers shut down — https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/04/social-robot-jibo-shutting-down-message/ 

Business Insider article:  Faraday Future is almost out of money and forcing some workers to take unpaid leave — https://www.businessinsider.in/faraday-future-is-almost-out-of-money-and-forcing-some-workers-to-take-unpaid-leave-report/articleshow/66437339.cms 

MacStories article: shortcuts archive — https://www.macstories.net/shortcuts/ 

Apple Music Wrapped shortcut — https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/0521d61c38b04e29967159d1f2bc005c 

Inverse article: Lightsaber Workshop at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Is a Cut Above Toys — https://www.inverse.com/article/53728-star-wars-galaxys-edge-lightsaber-workshop-savi-and-son 

B52’s new release, Live at Love & Rockets, 1998 — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/live-at-rock-n-rockets-1998/1453018958

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:55 — 17.1MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Youtube Music | RSS | More

Episode 229 – 5G Coffee

By | |
Comments Off on Episode 229 – 5G Coffee
Coffee at the Vienna airport
Photo by Michael Martine, 2016

With MWC just wrapping up, Michael and Michael turn their attention to coffee dispensing robots, specifically those that are taking advantage of the faster 5G network to execute the heavier workloads on the cloud.  This story reminded the team of the super fast robot capabilities to catch items thrown to them, as well as solving a Rubik’s Cube at lightning speed.  

On the musical front, the pair marvel at the MidiWrist Apple Watch app makes the watch a midi controller (see the demo video below), and this reminded Michael R of his recent pick, the AudioKit Synth One.

Selected Links

Inverse article: The Barista Robots at MWC 2019 Offer an Exciting Taste of 5G-Powered Robots — https://www.inverse.com/article/53607-mwc-2019-robots-5g 

dal.komm coffee b;eat robot cafe — http://www.dalkomm.com/tag/robot-cafe/ 

INNFOS — http://www.innfos.com/home_en 

MWC 2019 Barcelona— https://www.mwcbarcelona.com 

Speedy robotics arm catches anything 

MIT Robot Breaks Rubik’s Cube Record 

MidiWrist — http://uwyn.com/midiwrist/ 

MidiWrist demo 

AudioKit Synth One — https://audiokitpro.com/synth/ 

Ian Hughes / epredator trying out the Microsoft Hololens 2

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:32 — 13.7MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Youtube Music | RSS | More

Episode 228 – Dragons and Light Sabers

By | |
Comments Off on Episode 228 – Dragons and Light Sabers
Billboard advertising Hungarian Fencing from 2013
Photo by Michael Martine, 2013

As the sign says, just like in the movies, you can now fire up your lightsaber and enter the competitive world of fencing, courtesy of the French Fencing Federation, which has now officially recognized the lightsaber via l’Académie de Sabre Laser.  Michael M’s history of fencing while at UNC, and more recent martial arts experience has him especially intrigued by these stories.  Ian shared a link about Beat Saber, a VR music game that required Value to update Steam because the players were just too fast.  

Or you can stow your lightsaber in favor of your blaster and play a couple of rounds of the new Harmonix game Audica, blasting your way through some funky tunes.  

Measure twice, cut once, goes the saying — and the folks over at Medivis have that spirit at heart, with their augmented reality visualization tools to help surgeons envision not just the procedure, but the patient conditions, before they begin their work.

Walmart, with their incubator Store No. 8 have created an amazing VR experience jointly with the DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon franchise, whereby people are transported to the world of the dragons via Positron Voyager VR motion chairs and powered by HP’s VR Backpack PCs.  Now, if there were only a way to train your dragon by playing a game involving awesome music…  

Michael R winds up this week’s show with his Emotiv headset experiences, tying them to the news about the Emotive VR project.

Selected Links

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

Newsweek article: Star Wars in Real Life: Lightsaber Dueling Officially Recognized as a Sport by Fencing Federation — https://www.newsweek.com/lightsaber-duelling-star-wars-sabers-french-fencing-federation-lightsaber-1335111 

Fédération Française d’Escrime l’Académie de Sabre Laser (ASL) — http://www.escrime-ffe.fr/les-differentes-pratiques/anthony-lococo-s-impose-a-beaumont-sur-oise 

Kotaku article:  Value Updates Steam VR Because Beat Saber Players Are Too Fast — https://kotaku.com/valve-updates-steam-vr-because-beat-saber-players-are-t-1832536574 

Beat Saber by Czech-based indie studio Beat Games — http://beatsaber.com 

Fruit Ninja — https://fruitninja.com 

Audica — https://www.audicagame.com 

Tweet by Jesse Damiani about Audica: 

TechCrunch article: Medivis has launched its augmented reality platform for surgical planning — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/medivis-has-launched-its-augmented-reality-platform-for-surgical-planning/ 

Medivis — https://www.medivis.com 

Amateur Surgeon 4 — https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/amateur-surgeon-4/id1039971965?mt=8 

TechCrunch article: Walmart tech incubator Store No. 8 launches VR startup Spatial& — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/14/walmart-tech-incubator-store-no-8-launches-vr-startup-spatial/ 

Store No. 8 Spatial& — https://www.storeno8.com/spatialand 

HP Z VR Backpack PC — https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/vrbackpack/overview.html 

GoPositron VR chair — https://gopositron.com 

How To Train Your Dragon — https://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com 

Emotiv Research Project: Emotiv VR — https://www.emotiv.com/news/research-project-emotive-vr/ 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:57 — 16.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Youtube Music | RSS | More

Episode 227 – Video Killed the Audio Star

By | |
Comments Off on Episode 227 – Video Killed the Audio Star
audio and video gear
Photo by Tracy Thomas on Unsplash

Starting with the heartwarming story about how Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller allows everyone to play games, Michael and Michael begin a show full of video, audio and security/privacy themes.

A variety of video themes surface in this episode of Games at Work, including the business of video games, a conclusion on the Group FaceTime bug, background blurring in Skype and means for watching end users interact with mobile apps.  

The audio subject started off with a discussion of how Amazon is bringing choose your own adventure games to Alexa.  Michael M remembered that they had a show about choose your own adventure games, and sure enough, it was episode 35 from way back in 2013, when he actually created a game using Twine.  You can still play the Games at Work Podcast Game.  And there’s been some updates to Twine since 2013 — follow @twinethreads for all the details or enter the maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

There are several links & stories related to user security and privacy in this episode, everything from the transparency Facebook is instituting for describing why an ad is being presented, to GDPR.  The episode concludes with some excitement about a Raspberry Pi store, which could be an awesome maker space.  Have a listen, and join in the conversation here or on Twitter at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Selected Links

Microsoft Super Bowl Commercial 2019: We All Win (Extended Version)


Bloomberg article: The Flops Are Piling Up for Video-Game Titans — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-07/video-game-titans-suffer-deepening-slump-as-flops-pile-up?srnd=premium 

TechCrunch article: Apple to compensate teenager who found Group FaceTime eavesdrop bug — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/07/apple-group-facetime-fix/ 

TechCrunch article: Amazon’s Audible brings Choose Your Own Adventure stories to Alexa devices — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/04/amazons-audible-brings-choose-your-own-adventure-stories-to-alexa-devices/ 

Games at Work Episode 35: Pirates of Pizzazz — https://gamesatwork.biz/2013/02/03/episode-35-pirates-of-pizzazz/ 

Games at Work Podcast Choose Your Own Adventure Game — https://gamesatwork.biz/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Games-at-Work-Podcast-Game1.html 

TechCrunch article: Skype can now blur the background during video calls — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/06/skype-video-call-blur/ 

TechCrunch article: Facebook will reveal who uploaded your contact info for ad targeting — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/06/why-am-i-seeing-this-ad/ 

General Data Protection Regulation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation 

MacRumors article: Some Popular iPhone Apps Secretly Record Your Screen for Analytics Purposes — https://www.macrumors.com/2019/02/06/iphone-apps-screen-recordings-analytics/ 

Glassbox — https://www.glassboxdigital.com 

TechCrunch article: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/07/the-raspberry-pi-store-is-much-cooler-than-an-apple-store/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:10 — 15.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Podcast Index | Youtube Music | RSS | More