Games At Work dot Biz

Episode 182 – Dungeons and Nike

By Michael Martine | October 23, 2017 - 20:44 |October 23, 2017 Podcast

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Thanks to @andypiper for sharing with us this cool Dungeons & Dragons tabletop, that Michael and Michael imagine could be brought to life via augmented reality like the Holochess example in Star Wars Episode IV.

What can be more personal than something you wear? Nike’s new brand engagement digital experience with their recently announced Connected NBA jersey is precisely that. Once a fan has committed to buy a team jersey financially, and linking that jersey to an account, the idea of what you could do next with all that data is extremely intriguing. What if this was not an NBA thing — what if the wearable is tied to a band, and they could monetize their fan experience, with exclusive potential access backstage at their concerts? What if, this was not sports or music — rather a political group — you could check in with your special rally hat to gain access? Is the (potential) value of what could be offered worth the tradeoff of sharing your data and allowing tracking by a third party?

What do you think? Inquiring minds want to know!

Selected links

Polygon article: D&D group builds custom tabletop with 4K touchscreen — https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/18/16329482/dungeons-and-dragons-digital-table-4k-touchscreen-fantasy-grounds

Dungeons & Dragons — http://dnd.wizards.com

Fantasy Grounds — https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php

Overhead holographic projector (discussed in episode 175) — http://bgr.com/2017/07/12/augmented-reality-projector/

Roll 20 app — https://roll20.net

Polygon article: D&D now on Steam, complete with dice and a Dungeon Master — https://www.polygon.com/2015/4/22/8470473/dungeons-dragons-virtual-tabletop-fantasy-grounds

Wizards of the Coast — http://company.wizards.com

Nike’s new Connected NBA jerseys — https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/nba/jerseys

Discovery’s Manhunt:Unabomber — https://manhunt.discovery.com/unabomber/

Swarm — https://www.swarmapp.com

IntoNow — TV check in app — https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/to-every-social-tv-app-turn-turn-turn/

Spotify — https://www.spotify.com/us/

What are the hosts’ favorite D&D quests?

Michael M — created our own.

Michael R — not canned adventures, we created our own too!

What games are the hosts playing?

Michael R — Eggs, Inc. — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg,_Inc.

Michael M — looking forward to some new AppleTV apps

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:48 — 36.6MB) | Embed

Episode 181 – Robotic Rockband

By Michael Martine | October 15, 2017 - 15:06 |October 15, 2017 Podcast

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Baby, don’t hurt me. Or order things on my Amazon Echo when I don’t want them. Michael and Michael start off this episode talking about the South Park season premiere, which plays a prank on the viewers by the audio dialog of the show launching commands on the viewer’s voice controlled devices (such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home).

I for one, welcome our new rockin’ robotic rockband overlords. And when you watch the video of Nigel Stanford’s Automatica, we think you will too.

Michael and Michael wrap up this episode talking about the recently concluded NASA Cassini mission and reminisce about their favorite space missions.

Selected links

Uproxx Article: The ‘South Park’ Season Premiere Caused Havoc With People’s Amazon Echos and Google Homes — http://uproxx.com/technology/south-park-premiere-amazon-echo-google-home/

Slashfilm article: Cool Stuff: ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ Illustrated Edition Gets Animated on Kindle — http://www.slashfilm.com/animated-harry-potter-kindle/

Automatica by Nigel Stanford — https://nigelstanford.com/Automatica/

TechCrunch article: Watch this robot rock band destroy their instruments — https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/14/nigel-stanford-automatica/

CYMATICS: Science Vs. Music – Nigel Stanford — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3oItpVa9fs

NASA article: The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini — https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/the-saturn-system.html

NASA e-books — https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/index.html

Kotaku article: Nintendo Will Release Its Classic Arcade Games On Switch — https://kotaku.com/nintendo-will-release-its-classic-arcade-games-on-switc-1808933486

What are the hosts’ favorite space missions?

Michael M — Apollo 11 — https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo11.html

Michael R — Maven — https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/index.html
Mars Satellites — https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html
Mars Rovers — https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/home/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:32 — 31.7MB) | Embed

Episode 180 – Augmented Beer Goggles

By Michael Martine | October 1, 2017 - 13:41 |October 1, 2017 Podcast

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Jan 2008 Activeworlds video of Van Gogh mashup of multiple paintings

Augmented reality is hitting the news every few moments, you can crack open a cold one and start seeing things. Or you can try on a new hair color from the app by Modiface. Of course, you can experiment with how you would look in a new pair of shades from Ray-Ban.

For even more fun, the Art Gallery of Ontario uses the ReBlink app to have the people in the paintings take selfies of the art gallery patrons taking selfies of them. This reminded Michael and Michael of the Activeworlds creation of the Van Gogh world, and the YouTube video tour Michael M made in 2008 (above).

Not being content with the pure visual elements of augmented reality, the pair discusses the Zach Lieberman’s example of recording sound in space — a very interesting way to visualize that there’s something auditory “there” from a geo-spatial perspective to be discovered.

Quick test of recording sound in space and playing back by moving through it (video has audio !) #openframeworks pic.twitter.com/GdZcK3rj1L

— zach lieberman (@zachlieberman) September 6, 2017

Following on the auditory thread to round out this episode, Michael and Michael talk about the recent South Park season premiere, and how sound, both audible to the human ear, and not audible to the human ear can be used to issue commands.

Plenty of links in the show notes today for all the topics the team covered, so you can jump right to them and learn more.

Selected links

Windows Mixed Reality — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mixed_RealityMicrosoft Mixed Reality Dev Kit — https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality
Digital Trends article: Augmented Reality Bottle Labels Could Change the Way You View Beer — https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/brewery-uses-augmented-reality-bottle-labels/
Pokemon Go — http://www.pokemongo.com
Google Translate on Google Play — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=en
Google Translate on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-translate/id414706506?mt=8
Ingress — https://www.ingress.com/intel
Zombies Go on Google Play — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hitgpx.zombiego&hl=en
Zombies Go on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombies-go-fight-dead-walking-everywhere-augmented/id831751766?mt=8
Ghostsnap — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4GUVzc2EY
Yelp Monocle — http://www.wikihow.com/Use-the-Augmented-Reality-Monocle-on-the-Yelp-for-iPhone-App
FastCompany Design article: These Classical Artworks Come to Life to Make Fun of your Museum Selfie — https://www.fastcodesign.com/90133286/these-classical-artworks-come-to-life-to-make-fun-of-your-museum-selfie
Alex Mahew’s ReBlink app — http://www.ago.net/reblink
Art Gallery of Ontario — https://ago.ca/?q=home
Thespis — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thespis_(opera)
Durham Savoyards — http://durhamsavoyards.org
Edward Munch’s The Scream — https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp
ActiveWorlds virtual recreation of Vincent Van Gogh’s home in Arles, France — http://www.activeworlds.com/vangogh/index.htm
9To5Mac article: New AR demo apps preview hair coloring, and a fun way to leave messages for kids — https://9to5mac.com/2017/09/07/cool-arkit-demos/
Modiface — http://www.modiface.com
Zach Lieberman’s tweet & video of recording sound in space — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Lieberman
Glasses.com virtual try on — http://www.glasses.com/virtual-try-on
SixColors article: Reports of ultrasonic attack on voice assistants more sound than fury — https://sixcolors.com/post/2017/09/reports-of-ultrasonic-attack-on-voice-assistants-more-sound-than-fury/
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long,_and_Thanks_for_All_the_Fish
Mashable article: Extraordinary iPhone App Identifies 2.6 Million TV Shows by “Listening” — http://mashable.com/2011/01/31/intonow/#BSKklHnZ1GqQ
TechCrunch article: Yahoo is Shutting Down IntoNow, Nearly Three Years After Acquisition — https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/28/to-every-social-tv-app-turn-turn-turn/
Soundhound — https://soundhound.com
Shazam — https://www.shazam.com
Uproxx article: The ‘South Park’ Season Premier Caused Havoc With People’s Amazon Echos and Google Homes — http://uproxx.com/technology/south-park-premiere-amazon-echo-google-home/

What are the hosts playing?

Michael R: Colorcube — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/colorcube/id1076402133?mt=8
Michael M: Flic button to turn pages on your favorite music app — https://flic.io/blog/Musicians-turn-page-Flic

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:54 — 39.0MB) | Embed

Episode 179 – May The Merch Be With You

By Michael Martine | September 25, 2017 - 06:37 |September 25, 2017 Podcast

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BB-9E augmented reality

In honor of Force Friday part deux, Michael and Michael geek out on all the awesomeness that is Star Wars merchandise now available for sale.

You could use have a Lenovo-enabled lightsaber battle.

You could build your own R2-D2 with a littleBits kit.

You could own your very own Corellian freighter of your very own, putting together over 7,500 pieces in the new, and most awesome Millennium Falcon model from Lego.

Switching gears, the team discusses the interaction among & between conversational artificial intelligences, and how they could do a platform of platform strategy play to talk with other AIs to gain the benefit of those services, all via natural language as the interface.

You’ll find drones, droids and how to do much more in this episode!

Selected links

Star Wars iOS app — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-wars/id960108075?mt=8

Business Insider article: The hype around ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is kicking into high gear — here’s what Disney just announced — http://www.businessinsider.com/new-star-wars-the-last-jedi-toys-2017-8

Battle Chess (Commodore 64) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Chess

Archon — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark

TechCrunch article: The littleBits Droid Inventor Kit lets you build an R2-D2 of your very own — https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/31/the-littlebits-droid-inventor-kit-lets-you-build-an-r2-d2-of-your-very-own/

Nerdist article: New Lego Millennium Falcon Is The Largest Set Ever — http://nerdist.com/star-wars-lego-millennium-falcon-largest-set-ever/http://nerdist.com/star-wars-lego-millennium-falcon-largest-set-ever/

TechCrunch article: Bragi’s Dash and Dash Pro wireless earbuds to get Amazon Alexa — https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/01/bragis-dash-and-dash-pro-wireless-earbuds-to-get-amazon-alexa/

TechCrunch article: Nobody is going to ask Cortana to talk to Alexa — https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/31/nobody-is-going-to-ask-cortana-to-talk-to-alexa/

Dark Sky — https://darksky.net/app

TechCrunch article: Google reveals the top things people want to find out ‘How to” do — https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/01/google-reveals-the-top-things-people-want-to-find-out-how-to-do/

How to Fix a Toilet — http://how-to-fix-a-toilet.com

Icon Factory — https://iconfactory.com

The Noun Project — https://thenounproject.com

An Event Apart Josh Clark: The Tools I Use — https://aneventapart.com/news/post/josh-clark-the-tools-i-use