Episode 249 — Oceans of Data

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Moonrise on Hatteras Island, Michael Martine 2011

While somehow avoiding any discussion of the Green Lantern Corps, Michael and Michael talk through some ring wearable concepts and move into the religious quantified self realm with the eRosary, an IoT device to help keep track of prayers.  It is incredible to imagine the data streams coming from such devices.

Changing themes from data streams to the open oceans, and specifically to Coral Vita’s novel means for coral reef rebuilding, growing coral at 50 times the normal rates.  Imagine the impact this could bring to restoring the health of the ocean habitats. This story reminded Michael M of a novel approach that University of Lancaster researchers are working on to strengthen concrete using carrots and sugar beet fibers.  

Also in this episode, there are conversations on Sonos’ stereo-as-a-service offering, robots machine learning their way to a feel for how to grasp objects and solve a Rubik’s cube one handed, boarding alerts now being included in the American Airlines mobile app and some retro & current games.  

Selected Links

iDrop article: ‘Apple Ring’ May Be in Development with Touch Screen, NFC and More — https://www.idropnews.com/rumors/apple-ring-may-be-in-development-with-touch-screen-nfc-and-more/120605/ 

Echo Loop Smart Ring with Alexa Day 1 Editions product — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JPK4XJ6/ref=sxts_snpl_1_0_53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb?pd_rd_w=PxX63&pf_rd_p=53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb&pf_rd_r=FZDY1EWCREPCPZNAMQH1&pd_rd_r=c7ff58c4-976c-4a2a-9cd5-f42cdfdcade4&pd_rd_wg=ih389&qid=1571584953 

CNBC article: Vatican launches $110 smart Rosary bracelet that tracks your prayers — https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/vatican-launches-110-smart-rosary-bracelet-that-tracks-your-prayers.html 

Click to Pray (how does it work?) — https://clicktopray.org/how-does-click-to-pray-work/ 

Click to Pray eRosary app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/click-to-pray-erosary/id1477960251 

TechCrunch article: In the Accelerator over the Sea — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/16/in-the-accelerator-over-the-sea/ 

Beyond the Sea

Coral Vita — https://www.coralvita.co 

Japan Times article — Carrot nanomaterial found to make cement stronger and greener — https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/20/world/offbeat-world/carrot-nanomaterial-found-make-cement-stronger-greener/#.Xax_EC-ZOuB 

CelluComp’s Curran: Revolutionary Technology: Vegetables used for high-performance materials — https://www.cellucomp.com/products/curran 

Motley Fool article: Is Sonons’ Speaker Rental Program as Odd as it Sounds? — https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/10/17/is-sonos-speaker-rental-program-as-odd-as-it-sound.aspx 

TechCrunch article: MIT develops a way for robots to grasp and manipulate objects much faster — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/17/mit-develops-a-way-for-robots-to-grasp-and-manipulate-objects-much-faster/ 

Episode 247: Off the Cuff — https://gamesatwork.biz/2019/10/07/episode-247-off-the-cuff/ 

TechCrunch article: Traptic uses 3D vision and robotic arms to harvest ripe strawberries — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/02/traptic-uses-3d-vision-and-robotic-arms-to-harvest-ripe-strawberries/ 

TechCrunch article: Watch OpenAI’s ‘human-like’ robot solve a Rubik’s Cube one-handed — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/15/watch-openais-human-like-robot-solve-a-rubiks-cube-one-handed/ 

Rubik’s Cube 40 years of history — https://www.rubiks.com/en-us/about 

The Points Guy: American Airlines (finally) rolls out boarding push notifications to all app users — https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-boarding-push-notifications/ 

Trusted Reviews article: Here’s how to access thousands of retro games for free — https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/free-retro-games-3946453 

Sensible Soccer International Edition v1.2 (1994) — https://archive.org/details/msdos_International_Sensible_Soccer_1994 

SSC 2019 The King of Retro Soccer — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ssc-2019/id1451802899 

Lego Ideas Dinosaur Fossils — https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/dinosaur-fossils-21320 

What the Golf? — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/what-the-golf/id1415190483 

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Episode 248 — Distractions

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squirrel in tree
Photo by Toimetaja tõlkebüroo on Unsplash

Michael and Michael get together for a distraction-filled episode, including innovations from London Cocktail Week, x-ray spec radio cameras, the potential for soldiers to be distracted on the battle field with their screens and how rocket ride sharing along with payload standardization are making launching satellites into orbit easier than ever.

Check out the episode and links below!  We think you’ll be — oh, look!  A squirrel! 

Selected Links

Slate article: What, and Why, Is a Whisky Pod? — https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/10/whisky-pod-edible-seaweed-encased-cocktails-why.html 

Notpla — https://www.notpla.com 

The Glenlivet — https://www.theglenlivet.com/ 

London Cocktail Week 2019 — https://drinkup.london/cocktailweek 

Tubthumping – They Might Be Giants & The AV Club Chorus

MIT Technology Review article: Machine vision has learned to use radio waves to see through walls and in darkness — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614470/machine-vision-has-learned-to-use-radio-waves-to-see-through-walls-and-in-darkness/ 

Wired article: The Dangers of Distracted Fighting — https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangers-of-distracted-fighting/ 

MIT Technology Review article: Rocket ride-shares could make going to space like catching a bus — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614519/rocket-ride-shares-could-make-going-to-space-like-catching-a-bus/ 

NASA article: NASA Mission Supports Launch of CubeSats Built by Middle and High School Students — https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-mission-supports-launch-of-cubesats-built-by-middle-and-high-school-students 

What’s Happening!! TV Show Intro 70’s — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZG97YMWTn0&feature=youtu.be

Ultimate Metal forum post: Barry Manilow loves Iron Maiden — http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/barry-manilow-loves-iron-maiden.206724/ 

Roseanne Roseannadanna — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne_Roseannadanna 

boas.io — https://boas.io 

slither.io — http://slither.io 

Spaceland — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spaceland/id1450972094 

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Episode 246 — Ninja Stealth Robots

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robotic helmet
Photo by Conor Luddy on Unsplash

A pair of Boston Dynamics robots catch Michael & Michael’s attention this week — Atlas, with it’s amazing (and quiet!) ninja parkour capabilities, and Spot, now being made available to the market.  

Several cool applications are part of this week’s program, from High Fidelity’s app to create VR avatars, to celebrity voices for Alexa & TomTom navigation, to improving your surfing skills via Surfline, to making better consumer choices in the grocery store with Yuka and Seafood Watch, and tracking the value of the time spent in meetings with our very own cohost Michael Rowe’s WastedTime app.

An interesting account of a couple’s backstory and costume construction for their vacation to Disney’s recently opened Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge sparks a conversation on how entertainment is evolving to become more and more immersive.

Surf on over, dive right in, and give this episode a listen!

Selected Links

Tech Crunch article: Atlas the humanoid robot shows off a new and improved gymnastics routine — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/atlas-the-humanoid-robot-shows-off-a-new-and-improved-gymnastics-routine/ 

Wired article: Spot, the 4-Legged Robot, Is Ready to Go for a Walk — https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-424/ 

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

Venture Beat article: High Fidelity’s new mobile app turns your selfies in to VR avatars — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/22/high-fidelitys-new-mobile-app-turns-your-selfies-into-vr-avatars/ 

High Fidelity — https://www.highfidelity.com 

High Fidelity movie — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/ 

USA today article: Amazon to offer Samuel L. Jackson voice for Alexa.  He’ll curse, if you want — https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/09/25/samuel-l-jackson-first-celebrity-voice-amazon-alexa/2447992001/ 

Samuel L. Jackson – celebrity voice for Alexa — https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-L-Jackson-celebrity-voice/dp/B07WS3HN5Q 

TomTom Mr. T voice — https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/drive/maps-services/shop/navigation-voices/mr-t/ 

Kotaku article: Three Months of Prep Made Our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Trip Amazing — https://kotaku.com/three-months-of-prep-made-our-star-wars-galaxys-edge-t-1838364921 

CNet article: Star Wars meets ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ in epic geeky parody — https://www.cnet.com/news/star-wars-meets-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-geeky-musical-parody/ 

Man of Many article: Surfline Sessions and an Apple Watch Can Record You Surfing — https://manofmany.com/outdoors/surf/surfline-sessions-and-an-apple-watch-can-record-you-surfing 

Yuka — https://yuka.io/en/ 

Science Friday September 27, 2019 The Latest IPCC Report: A Global Warning On Ice and Oceans — https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/september-2019-ipcc-report-ice-oceans/ 

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app — https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/our-app 

Drive article: New South Wales drivers using phones behind the wheel are in the firing line, with the state to permanently roll out its phone-detection cameras — https://m.drive.com.au/news/nsw-phone-monitoring-cameras-going-live-this-year-122500.html 

Nintendo LABO Builders tweet

Nintendo LABO — https://labo.nintendo.com 

WastedTime Watch! app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wastedtime-watch/id1478660347 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:27 — 16.4MB) | Embed

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