Episode 226 – RoboEverything

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robots
Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash

Michael and Michael struggle to remember a game from 1981 named Qix as they discuss robotic lawn mowers from iRobot and Husqvarna, thinking that there could be a way to paint a lawn vs using beacons or wires to set the boundaries of a lawn for the robotic mowers.  Moving from robotic mowers, the co-hosts turn to robotic beer pouring, and then quickly turn to the subject of robocallers.  

After talking about all things robotic, Michael and Michael discuss the FaceTime bug, some cool album art mashed up with Star Wars characters and close out with a cool open source synthesizer that Michael R discovered.

Selected Links

Gizmodo article: iRobot’s New Robot Lawn Mower Sure Looks Like It’ll Piss Off Your Neighbors — https://gizmodo.com/irobots-new-robot-lawn-mower-sure-looks-like-itll-piss-1832169602 

Husqvarna Robotic Lawn Mowers — https://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/robotic-lawn-mowers/ 

Qix game — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qix 

Forbes article: How Artificial Intelligence Is Used To Make Beer — https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/02/01/how-artificial-intelligence-is-used-to-make-beer/#202b1a9770cf 

The Verge article: Robocallers blasted Americans with 26.3 billion spam calls last year — https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/30/18203413/robocalls-spam-text-calls-2018-analysis-hiya 

TechCrunch article: Apple fixes FaceTime eavesdrop bug, with software update incoming — https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/01/apple-facetime-privacy/ 

TechCrunch article: Cheap Internet of Things gadgets betray you even after you toss them in the trash — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/cheap-internet-of-things-gadgets-betray-you-even-after-you-toss-them-in-the-trash/ 

Design You Trust post: Famous Classic Album Covers Mashed Up With Star Wars Characters — https://designyoutrust.com/2017/12/famous-classic-album-covers-mashed-star-wars-characters/ 

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:34 — 14.6MB) | Embed

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Episode 225 – Ah ha – it’s AI!

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Michael and Michael take on the topic of the advances Google’s DeepMind has made since playing Go by examining the AlphaStar results with StarCraft II.  Games have long been used by AI to have the AI play the game against itself to learn and improve.  Michael and Michael talked about AlphaGo back in 2016 during Episode 133 — Game Brains and a team of AIs playing Dota2 was not quite the match for a human team during Episode 202 – Everything Old is New Again in July of 2018.  It is clear that the bots are making great strides in more and more complex games.

Robots & drones factor into this week’s episode with Facebook partnering up with Airbus to provide internet connectivity by flying solar powered drones in Australia, reminding the team of Google’s Project Loon, which aims to accomplish the same idea with balloons.  Amazon is in the mix with utility belts that help the bots in the warehouse know where the humans are, and create a safety zone around the human workers.

Being music fans and 1980s music fans, Michael and Michael just loved the easter egg in Just Cause 4 — have a look at the show notes below to see for yourself.  Totally awesome.

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: StarCraft II-playing AI AlphaStar takes out pros undefeated — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/24/starcraft-ii-playing-ai-alphastar-takes-out-pros-undefeated/ 

StarCraft II — https://starcraft2.com/en-us/ 

AlphaStar: Mastering the Real-Time Strategy Game StarCraft II — https://deepmind.com/blog/alphastar-mastering-real-time-strategy-game-starcraft-ii/ 

AlphaGo: https://deepmind.com/research/alphago/ 

The Verge article: A video game-playing AI beat Q*bert in a way no one’s ever seen before — https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/28/17062338/ai-agent-atari-q-bert-cracked-bug-cheat 

Eurogamer article: This Just Cause 4 Easter egg is the greatest Easter egg of them all — https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-12-09-this-just-cause-4-easter-egg-is-the-best-easter-egg-of-all-time 

a-ha Take On Me video —

Just Cause Wiki – Database for the Just Cause Universe — https://justcause.fandom.com/wiki/Just_Cause_4 

TechCrunch article: Facebook is reportedly testing solar-powered internet drones again — this time with Airbus — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/21/facebook-airbus-solar-drones-internet-program/ 

Project Loon — https://loon.co 

The Verge article: Amazon warehouse workers are getting utility belts that ward off robots — https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/21/18191338/amazon-robot-warehouse-tech-vest-utility-belt-safety 

TechCrunch article: Intel announces an inside-out tracking camera for robotics and AR/VR hardware — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/intel-announces-an-inside-out-tracking-camera-for-robotics-and-ar-vr-hardware/ 

TechCrunch article: Twitter testing ‘Original Tweeter’ tag to distinguish who started a thread — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/twitter-testing-original-tweeter-tag-to-distinguish-who-started-a-thread/ 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:23 — 12.3MB) | Embed

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Episode 224 – Road to Nowhere

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Photo by Michael Martine

After a couple of follow up articles from last week’s show with Michael R & Ian on the Unity & AR headset front, Michael and Michael launch into the world of stationary bikes and how virtual reality is augmenting the exercise experience.  Penn & Teller’s Desert Bus resurfaces after the team talk about a Roller Coaster Tycoon custom build that takes 12 years to ride.

The co-hosts take a look at Bjørn Karmann’s intriguing post about , a mod that allows users to craft a custom wake-word for their smart speaker using a raspberry pi.

Rounding out this week’s episode is a discussion on charging electric vehicle batteries as fast as it would take to fill up with a tank of gasoline and Nike’s commercial version of the Back to the Future auto-lacing basketball shoes. 

Selected Links

VentureBeat article: Improbable promises long-term support for Unity — https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/17/improbable-promises-long-term-support-for-unity/ 

The Verge article:  AR headset company Meta shutting down after assets sold to unknown company — https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/18/18187315/meta-vision-ar-headset-company-asset-sale-unknown-buyer-insolvent 

The NextWeb tweet:

Roller Coaster Tycoon — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RollerCoaster_Tycoon 

Desert Bus for Hope — https://desertbus.org 

Road to VR post: https://www.roadtovr.com/ces-2019-nordictrack-making-vr-exercise-bike/ 

NordicTrack — https://www.nordictrack.com 

Peloton — https://www.onepeloton.com 

Vive headset — https://www.vive.com/us/ 

tweet by Bjørn Karmann:

— http://bjoernkarmann.dk/project_alias 

TechCrunch article: GBatteries let you charge your car as quickly as visiting the pump — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/15/gbatteries-let-you-charge-your-car-as-quickly-as-visiting-the-pump/ 

GBatteries — https://www.gbatteries.com 

Tesla Model S – Battery Swap video —

TechCrunch article: Nike’s auto-laced feature — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/nikes-auto-laced-future/ 

Nike Adapt BB — https://news.nike.com/news/nike-adapt-bb 

Forbes article:  Nike’s Self-Lacing HyperAdapt Sneakers Are Returning in 2019 — https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonogus/2018/12/28/nikes-self-lacing-hyperadapt-sneakers-are-returning-in-2019/#2353041f356f 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:37 — 16.0MB) | Embed

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Episode 223 – CES and C64

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ePredator on Ice

While Michael is away flying thru the skies, Michael asks long time listener and all around excellent dude ePredator – AKA Ian Hughes, to join and talk about interesting events around gaming technology and CES 2019.

Ian, is the founder of Feeding Edge and an analyst with 451 Research, where he focuses on enterprise use of emerging technology. In particular IoT and its impact across all industry. This includes AR VR and emerging interfaces and Industrial IoT. Researching, writing, presenting and advising on the subject.

Selected Links

Gaming now worth more than Video and music – https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46746593

Latest update on Improbable and Unity – https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/unity-engine-tos-change-makes-cloud-based-spatialos-games-illegal/

Holoride’s in-car VR solution at CES 2019 – https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/10/holorides-in-car-vr-solution-is-the-best-thing-at-ces-2019/

WayRay’s holographic windshield tech from CES 2019 – https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/videos/ces-2019-wayray-holographic-windshield-tech-will-grace-the-genesis-g80/

Collapse of ODG – https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/10/an-ar-glasses-pioneer-collapses/

The C64 Mini – https://retrogames.biz/

C64 Mini Hacks – https://freeze64.com/c64mini-hacks/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:37 — 17.9MB) | Embed

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