Episode 227 – Video Killed the Audio Star

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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/

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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/ 

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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/ 

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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 

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