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Episode 190 – Crazy to the Macs

By Michael Rowe | January 8, 2018 - 06:00 |January 6, 2018 Podcast

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The Michael’s welcome in the new year with a philosophical discussion on why do we need a dedicated speaker for a digital assistant? What’s the secret sauce as to why a dedicated device is worth it verses just using the one on your phone? We also tweeted out a quick poll on which device do you use?

We then discuss Magic Leap’s finally announced Developer kit. Are you getting your’s? What do you think about it’s form factor? Is it the next great dev kit, or will it just be another Google Glass like launch? We look at the design and Michael R. appreciates how people got the tethered part wrong (as they usually do from early prototypes).

Going from AR we look back at virtual assistants with two apps, Fin and Filld, which help people with a busy life get mundane things done. Is it just Task Rabbit or something more? Is it within the reach of average consumers? Not yet, but who knows.

We then look at unrolling tweet storms and turning them into a blog post, via a google chrome plug in. An finally we go back to a few old favorites with Civilizations and the Animaniacs.

What will you do this year? We plan on doing the same thing we do every year, Try and take over the world!!!

Happy new year!

Show Links:
There’s no place like HomePod –
https://www.macworld.com/article/3245730/home-tech/theres-no-place-like-homepod.html#tk.rss_all
Multi-Timer by Persapps – http://www.persapps.com – Direct link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/multitimer-multiple-timers/id973421278?mt=8
A quick tweet about which device do you own? https://twitter.com/GamesAtWork_Biz/status/949363822560768006

Magic Leap Finally Reveals AR Headset – https://uploadvr.com/magic-leap-finally-reveals-ar-headset-magic-leap-one/
The Fin Assistant – https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/22/fin-assistant/
Fill Your Tank with Filld – https://www.filld.com/

Amazon will deliver to the trunk of your car – http://fortune.com/2017/10/10/amazon-phrame/

Unroll your Tweet Storms – https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/04/thread-reader-app-twitter/

Civilizations VI is now on the iPad – https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/12/the-full-real-actual-civilization-vi-just-came-out-on-ipad/
Animaniacs are back for another season on Hulu – http://www.slashfilm.com/animaniacs-reboot/

What are we playing:
Michael R. InstaSaber – http://instasaber.com
Michael M. – Doing yearly time-suck cleanup of apps on his phone.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:08 — 37.0MB) | Embed

Episode 189 – Year End Tech Blues

By Michael Martine | December 31, 2017 - 23:55 |December 31, 2017 Podcast

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Did you know if you play In the Air Tonight from the Secret Policeman’s Ball starting at any time before midnight on the 31st of December, you won’t hear the drum solo at all? Well, we did.

As we wrap up the last episode of 2017, we have several examples of tech you may find as intriguing as we did.

First, non-powered, non-battery operated devices that can communicate with WiFi, simply explained by sound waves. Michael R highlights the DTNS show where the concept of transmission over a wet string is explained. Michael M remembers the Monty Python String sketch with Mr. Adrian Wapcaplet.

Then, for the new Pixel phones, you can place augmented reality stickers of stormtroopers in your pictures & videos. This thread (ha) leads to the Instasaber site, where you can create light sabers, once the app is released.

Later, a discussion on jobs & the workplace of the future, specifically around bots and legal work.

Then, a conversation about Apple’s recently announced iMac Pro.

From all of us at Games at Work, we wish you a very happy new year, with health, happiness, prosperity and augmented goodness in 2018!

Selected Links

In the Air Tonight from The Secret Policeman’s Ball — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOuKgVR3Xeo

Digital Trends article: Scientists create unpowered 3D-printed objects that can communicate via WiFi — https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/3d-printed-wi-fi/

Monty Python Sting sketch — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNj-QFZbew & http://www.montypython.net/scripts/string.php

DTNS 3178 – Broadstrand Inter-Wet — http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/dtns-3178-broadstrand-inter-wet/

Digital Trends article: Insert Stormtroopers into your life with Google’s new AR stickers for Pixel — https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-launches-ar-stickers-for-pixel/

Instasaber — http://instasaber.com

MIT Technology Review article: Apps That Hint at a Fanciful Fake Future — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609235/apps-that-hint-at-a-fanciful-fake-future/

MIT Technology Review article: Lawyer-Bots Are Shaking Up Jobs — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609556/lawyer-bots-are-shaking-up-jobs/

Apple’s iMac Pro — https://www.apple.com/imac-pro/

MIT Technology Review article: Your Next Password May Be Stored in Your Shirt Cuff — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609264/your-next-password-may-be-stored-in-your-shirt-cuff/

Smallball — http://smallball.com

What games are the hosts playing?

Michael M: Retro Soccer by EightPixelsSquare — http://www.eightpixelssquare.com/retrosoccer/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:31 — 37.4MB) | Embed

Episode 188 – Star Wars Bucks

By Michael Martine | December 18, 2017 - 06:25 |December 17, 2017 Podcast

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With the opening of the latest installation of the Star Wars saga this weekend, Michael and Michael start off this episode, recorded a week earlier, with the new AR capabilities of the Star Wars app. Michael M, being the enterprising person that he is, boldly managed to try this out by loading up the image on a website to allow the AR experience to work.

The newest Starbucks opened in Shanghai and in addition to being the largest in the world, coming in at 30,000 sq ft, is also AR-enabled. Visitors to this Starbucks can walk around with their AR-enabled phone to learn more about the inner workings of this Starbucks, earning badges to receive a custom roastery photo filter when all the badges are collected.

Michael M was fascinated by the way the Kuri robot emotes by changing the shape of the eyes using “eyelids” that come up from the bottom of the eyes, as well as from the top. Michael R shared an intriguing app that reads audio waveforms, which the PhonoPaper app describes as “the 2D audio barcode (by analogy with the QR-code)”

Selected Links

The First Order Arrives… In The Star Wars App — http://www.starwars.com/news/the-first-order-arrives-in-the-star-wars-app

The Star Wars App — http://www.starwars.com/games-apps/star-wars-app

Mashable article: The world’s biggest Starbucks outlet is also AR-enhanced — http://mashable.com/2017/12/05/starbucks-shanghai-outlet

Wired article: The Genesis of Kuri, the Friendly Home Robot — https://www.wired.com/story/the-genesis-of-kuri/

Rosie the robot from the Jetsons — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Jetsons_characters#Rosie

Twiki the robot from Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century — http://buckrogers.wikia.com/wiki/Twiki

IEEE Spectrum article: New Carbon Nanotube Sheets Claim World’s Top Heat-Sink Performance — https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/new-carbon-nanotube-sheets-claim-worlds-top-heatsink-performance

Handbrake — https://handbrake.fr

Apple App Store article: From Hit Game to Arcade Sensation — https://itunes.apple.com/us/story/id1309536407

Kate Bush’s album Ariel — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_(album)

PhonoPaper app — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phonopaper/id865947553?mt=8

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:17 — 37.1MB) | Embed

Episode 187 – Bionic Eye

By Michael Martine | December 11, 2017 - 06:24 |December 10, 2017 Podcast

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On an unseasonably warm Friday, Michael & Michael get together to discuss a sports to business application of virtual reality, that of training retail store employees to prepare for the oncoming rush of bargain hunters on Black Friday instead of the rush of oncoming defensive backs.

A favorite topic of ours — augmented reality use methods — resurfaces in this episode, this time prompted by the recent Apple acquisition of a Canadian AR company called VRVANA, which leads to a conversation about miniaturization of this technology, ultimately embedding into bionic contact lenses, or even a potential direct optic nerve connection. At the very least, we don’t bring up spiders in this episode. Whew.

The team talks about home robotics, and Rosie from the Jetsons seems to be cropping up in many articles. The concept of a friendly companion robot is one that many companies are chasing after, and the article for this show comes from an experience with a robot called Jibo.

Closing out the show with a discussion on wearables, Michael and Michael are amazed at the new capabilities enabled by the Kardiaband, and what this implies for future medical devices to improve and save lives.

Selected links

MIT Technology Review article: Finally a Useful Application for VR: Training Employees — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609473/finally-a-useful-application-for-vr-training-employees/

Business Insider article: Apple bought a Canadian AR startup for $30 million — and it could give Apple an edge in the next big thing — http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-buys-vrvana-totem-mixed-reality-headset-2017-11

VRVANA — https://www.vrvana.com

Hackday io — Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses project — https://hackaday.io/project/580-peril-sensitive-sunglasses

Futurism article: Bionic Contacts: Goodbye Glasses. Hello Vision That’s 3x Better Than 20/20 — https://futurism.com/bionic-contacts-goodbye-glasses-hello-vision-thats-3x-better-than-2020/

Transitions photochromic transition eyeglasses — https://www.transitions.com/en-us/

Wall Street Journal article: This Cute Little Robot Made My Family Mad — https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-cute-little-robot-made-my-family-mad-1511980911

Rosie from the Jetsons — http://thejetsons.wikia.com/wiki/Rosey

Jibo — https://www.jibo.com

Roomba — http://store.irobot.com/default/robot-vacuum-roomba/

Sphero BB-8 — https://store.sphero.com/products/bb-8-by-sphero

Thomas Friedman’s Thank You for Being Late — http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/thank-you-for-being-late/

TechCrunch article: FDA clears AliveCor’s Kardiaband as the first medical device accessory for the Apple Watch — https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/30/fda-clears-alivecors-kardiaband-as-the-first-medical-device-accessory-for-the-apple-watch/

Kardiaband for Apple Watch — https://store.alivecor.com