Episode 220 – Faces and Places

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Motion shot of a busy London scene
Photo by Anna Dziubinska on Unsplash

Michael and Michael start off this week’s show with a discussion on privacy, spurred by advances in facial recognition technology, and Microsoft’s stance on what overarching principles should guide their (and other tech company’s) development and use of the technology for a variety of purposes, including commerce and law enforcement to name just two.

Moving from the physical to the virtual, Michael R notes that there is now an ability to create your own islands in Fortnight, much like what could be done in Second Life.

In the wearables space, the team have two examples: a retro sneaker that’s been updated with new wireless technology for exercise tracking, while retaining the same form factor that it was initially issued with, and Tesla’s use of AR to spot defects on the assembly line.

Closing out on an AR note, the team talks about the Ghostbusters World game which allows you to bust ghosts yourself.  Is there something strange in your neighborhood?  Give this game a try!

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Microsoft calls on companies to adopt a facial recognition code of conduct — https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/06/microsoft-calls-on-companies-to-adopt-a-facial-recognition-code-of-conduct/ 

Microsoft On the Issues blog: Facial recognition: It’s time for action — https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2018/12/06/facial-recognition-its-time-for-action/ 

Gadget Hacks article: How to Make an Infrared Mask to Hide Your Face from Cameras — https://mods-n-hacks.gadgethacks.com/how-to/make-infrared-mask-hide-your-face-from-cameras-201280/ 

Fortnight Creative — https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/creative 

TechCrunch article: Puma reissues its nerdiest shoe ever, the RS-Computer — https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/11/puma-reissues-its-nerdiest-shoe-ever-the-rs-computer/ 

Business Insider article: Tesla wants its factory workers to wear futuristic augmented reality glasses on the assembly line — https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-patent-reveals-augmented-reality-glasses-for-factory-workers-2018-12 

Augmented Reality Application for Manufacturing paint application 15/994919 — http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20180350056.PGNR. 

iMore article: Ghostbusters World: Everything you need to know! — https://www.imore.com/ghostbusters-world-everything-you-need-know 

Ghostbusters World — http://www.ghostbustersworld.com 


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Episode 219 – Do You Hear What I Hear

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Photo by Michael Martine

Michael and Michael start off this holiday-themed show with a novel audio experience, a way to really feel the music, by donning a backpack with technology that integrates with the sound system of the venue and transmits the music in what Not Impossible Labs describes as vibrotactile.  Both co-hosts would love to give this system a try, and we think that you might too! 

Continuing with the music theme, both co-hosts found the same topic in their feeds, but with different links.  Bose has announced the availability of Frames, a new wearable that is not only a pair of sunglasses, but also stream music and information in an audio AR way.  Using the paired phone GPS and sensors within the glasses, Bose enables audio AR, describing it as “clear-eyed, heads-up, hands-free”.  

Moving to more of the visual, the pair discuss a video stitched together from several cameras on a Tesla driving the famous “Tail of the Dragon” route 129 between North Carolina and Tennessee.  It is intriguing to see how the Tesla AI identifies the boundaries of the road, and the other vehicles driving ahead, behind, and parked on the side of the road.  This topic lends itself well to a frequent discussion on electric car batteries, and the new wrinkle this time pertains to what will happen to the demand on the electric grid as the number of electric vehicles requiring charging continues to grow at an accelerating rate.

This week’s episode closes with a couple of interesting themes in the AR and gaming space, with a tattoo that launches a Sonic the Hedgehog AR experience, new builder capabilities in Fortnight, and what it means to be a healer.

Selected Links

Ars Technica article: New wearable tech lets users listen to live music through their skin — https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/11/new-wearable-tech-lets-users-listen-to-live-music-through-their-skin/ 

TechCrunch article: Bose is dabbling in ‘audio AR’ with a pair of sunglasses — https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/04/bose-is-dabbling-in-audio-ar-with-a-pair-of-sunglasses/ 

The Verge article: Bose’s $199 audio-based AR sunglasses are available for preorder — https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/12/4/18125550/bose-frames-price-release-date-specs-features 

Bose announces Frames — https://globalpressroom.bose.com/us-en/pressrelease/view/1965/false/0 

Driving article: This is what Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence ‘sees’ when it’s on the road — https://driving.ca/tesla/auto-news/news/this-is-what-teslas-artificial-intelligence-sees-when-its-on-the-road 

Tail of the Dragon — https://tailofthedragon.com 

Inverse article:  How Future Fleet of Electric Cars Could Cause the Power Outages of Tomorrow — https://www.inverse.com/article/51486-electric-cars-demand-better-infrastructure 

Custom Tattoo Launches Interactive Sonic The Hedgehog AR Experience — https://vrscout.com/news/sonic-the-hedgehog-ar-tattoo/

New World Notes article: Fortnight Officially Becomes Full-Fledged Virtual World With Private Islands & Content Creation Tools — https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2018/12/fornite-private-island-creativity-machinima-sl.html 

Kokatu article: Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Healer — https://kotaku.com/damn-it-feels-good-to-be-a-healer-1830822313 


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Episode 218 – Virtually Married

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Robot & astronaut
Photo credit: Pexels

Michael and Michael are thankful for the chance to bring you your weekly dose of Games At Work, and start off this episode re-exploring a topic covered back in episode 159, this time with a wedding-themed twist.  The Esquire article presents an intriguing dilemma — can/should a human marry an artificial intelligence?  Vinclu’s Gatebox product with the AI attracted Michael & Michael’s attention a while ago, and in the case of Akihiko Kondo-san’s case, he was so attracted that he married the Gatebox AI version of a computer-generated Hatsune Miku.  Apparently Kondo-san is not alone — Gatebox has issued over 3,700 marriage certificates for what they are calling ‘cross-dimensional’ nuptials.  While many are accustomed to asking their personal assistant AIs to control their lights, set alarms and play music, the personification of the AI in human form, although projected in a MacPro-esque canister, lends a further aura of reality to this assistant.  Gatebox does not limit the communication of their AI only to the holographic character, the AI also interacts with the owner via text, and more.  Intriguingly, one can easily imagine the AI having a VR/AR/MR presence in the near future, yielding even more realistic engagement with the owner.  

Michael and Michael talk about other ways that the experiences from virtual worlds could be applied to such corporally-personified AIs, such as a subscription model, where one purchases a time-based contract with the AI company, virtual gifts that could be given to the AI, or to friend’s AIs, as well as legal questions around property rights and more.  Certainly a space to watch for the near future!

Speaking of the future, the co-hosts discuss a couple of companies that have specialized in creating chatbots to converse with the dearly departed, and how the AI powering those chatbots can be trained before you pass away.  The article brings up a number of challenges that this capability introduces, from what you entrust to the database, and what might be shared with whom after you pass away, to what age you want to be immortalized.

There’s more to this Thanksgiving episode — have a look at the links below to get a taste & have a listen!  

Selected Links

Esquire article: Single? Consider a Cross-Dimensional (Human-Hologram) Marriage — https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a25018920/japan-married-hologram-gatebox/ 

Business Insider article: Japan’s $2,700 answer to the Amazon Echo could make the country’s sex crisis even worse — https://www.businessinsider.com/gatebox-ai-the-japanese-amazon-echo-photos-2016-12 

Gatebox with Hatsune Miku — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mJcclRoOo 

Gatebox by Vinclu — https://gatebox.ai/home/ 

Games at Work episode 159 — Virtually Secure — example of Gatebox — https://gamesatwork.biz/2017/01/22/episode-159-virtually-secure/ 

Apple’s MacPro — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro 

Business Insider article: These 2 tech founders lost their friends in tragic accidents. Now they’ve built AI chatbots to give people life after death — https://www.businessinsider.com/eternime-and-replika-giving-life-to-the-dead-with-new-technology-2018-11 

Black Mirror — https://www.netflix.com/title/70264888 

The Verge article: Speak, Memory — https://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot 

Games at Work episode 26 — Business Process Management and Immortality — https://gamesatwork.biz/2012/11/04/episode26/ 

TechCrunch article: Here’s the teaser trailer for Niantic’s Pokemon Go-style Harry Potter Game — https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/14/heres-the-teaser-trailer-for-niantics-harry-potter-game/

Harry Potter Wizards Unite — https://www.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/ 

Comicbook article: ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Player Gets Struck By Lightning, Dies — https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/11/11/red-dead-redemption-2-ps4-xbox-lightning-dies/ 

Feeding Edge LTD blog post: Made it at last (in VR too) – Thanks Streetview — http://www.feedingedge.co.uk/blog/2018/11/22/made-it-at-last-in-vr-too-thanks-streetview/ 

SlashFilm article: ‘Detective Pikachu’ Trailer: Ryan Reynolds is a Lonely, Mystery-Solving Pokemon — https://www.slashfilm.com/detective-pikachu-trailer/ 

Garfield voiced by Lorenzo Music — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Music 

Garfield Minus Garfield — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_Minus_Garfield 

TechCrunch article: With no moving parts, this plane flies on the ionic wind — https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/21/with-no-moving-parts-this-plane-flies-on-the-ionic-wind/ 

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Episode 217 – Real Magic

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Photo by Mervyn Chan on Unsplash

Arthur C. Clark’s Third Law, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” holds true for the AR magical examples from this week, starting off Uchida-san’s (@shinyamagician) fantastic use of augmented reality in his video, that requires slowing down and scrubbing through the video to really see the nature of the tricks.

The new, magical iPad Pro requires some discussion and focus, including the fact that it is now sporting an USB-C, leading to the Hyper solution for HDMI and a wide range of other interfaces.   

The Mashable article about the Slice Planner likens it to the magical Tom Riddle’s diary, and spurs a conversation about the Moleskine Smart Writing Set, the CrossPad, and the Apple Pencil.

Continuing on this week’s AR focus, the co-hosts discuss a pair of clothing and shoe fitting solutions:  MTailor’s Custom Clothing iOS app, and the in-store Fit ID solution for shoes from Fleet Feet.  

Wrapping things up this election week in the United States, Michael & Michael discuss the findings from Samatha Bee’s This is Not A Game, The Game app.

We had great fun with the topics for this week — hope you will as well! 

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: This magician brings some serious tricks to the iPad Pro — https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/09/this-magician-brings-some-serious-tricks-to-the-ipad-pro/ 

9 to 5 Mac article: Hyper unveils the first iPad Pro USB-C hub with HDMI, USB-A, headphone jack, SD slot, more — https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/05/ipad-pro-usb-c-hub-hyper/ 

Mashable article: This $23 AR-powered planner is *almost* as magical as Tom Riddle’s diary — https://mashable.com/shopping/nov-6-slice-planner-sale/ 

Moleskine Smart Writing Set — https://us.moleskine.com/smart-writing-set/p0202 

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

TechCrunch article: Niantic overhauls Ingress to make it more welcoming for new players — https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/05/what-is-ingress-prime/ 

MTailor Custom Clothing —  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mtailor-custom-clothing/id816042916?mt=8 

Fleet Feet Fit ID — https://www.fleetfeet.com/catalogs/fit-id 

The Verge article: Players of Samatha Bee’s mobile game have reported over 800 instances of voter suppression — https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/6/18069830/samantha-bee-mobile-game-voter-suppression 

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