Games At Work dot Biz

Episode 225 – Ah ha – it’s AI!

By Michael Martine | January 29, 2019 - 06:16 |January 28, 2019 Podcast

Comments Off

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/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:23 — 12.3MB) | Embed

Episode 224 – Road to Nowhere

By Michael Martine | January 21, 2019 - 06:42 |January 20, 2019 Podcast

Comments Off

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 #ProjectAlias, 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 enthusiast created a coaster that takes 12 years (and real bladder control) to ride https://t.co/glXPMYPbpX

— TNW (@thenextweb) January 16, 2019

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/

#ProjectAlias tweet by Bjørn Karmann:

Proud to anounce: #ProjectAlias a parasite for the surveillance age that lets you be in controle of your smart home device. Check out the project at https://t.co/p3T57qp4Gc pic.twitter.com/nugeSUGWaB

— Bjørn Karmann (@BjoernKarmann) January 14, 2019

#ProjectAlias — 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:37 — 16.0MB) | Embed

Episode 223 – CES and C64

By Michael Rowe | January 14, 2019 - 06:00 |January 11, 2019 Podcast

Comments Off

ePredator on Ice

While Michael is away flying thru the skies, Michael asks long time listener and all around excellent dude ePredator – AKA Ian Hughes, to join and talk about interesting events around gaming technology and CES 2019.

Ian, is the founder of Feeding Edge and an analyst with 451 Research, where he focuses on enterprise use of emerging technology. In particular IoT and its impact across all industry. This includes AR VR and emerging interfaces and Industrial IoT. Researching, writing, presenting and advising on the subject.

Selected Links

Gaming now worth more than Video and music – https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46746593

Latest update on Improbable and Unity – https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/unity-engine-tos-change-makes-cloud-based-spatialos-games-illegal/

Holoride’s in-car VR solution at CES 2019 – https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/10/holorides-in-car-vr-solution-is-the-best-thing-at-ces-2019/

WayRay’s holographic windshield tech from CES 2019 – https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/videos/ces-2019-wayray-holographic-windshield-tech-will-grace-the-genesis-g80/

Collapse of ODG – https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/10/an-ar-glasses-pioneer-collapses/

The C64 Mini – https://retrogames.biz/

C64 Mini Hacks – https://freeze64.com/c64mini-hacks/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:37 — 17.9MB) | Embed

Episode 222 – Haptic eSports

By Michael Martine | January 7, 2019 - 06:51 |January 6, 2019 Podcast

Comments Off

Michael and Michael start 2019 off with the wide world of sports, eSports to be specific, and the story of one Twitch celebrity Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who plays Fortnight about 12 hours a day for his millions of subscribers. His efforts resulted in nearly $10 million in income in 2018. It is incredible that there is such money in sponsorships, subscriptions and advertising related to online game playing, and in the wider esports tournaments as well.

Turning to their thoughts to wearables, Michael R talks about a Microsoft haptic wristband, and his personal experience with the therapeutic benefits of electric muscle stimulation. The pair follow up the haptic conversation, with one on smart fabrics, and what could be done via fabric to interact with the wearer — maybe giving them extrasensory perception of the world around them. Neil Harbisson gave an interesting TED talk on what it’s like to hear color, and how he can hear colors that cannot be seen by the human eye.

Mapping the world is becoming more and more important, especially as keeping mapping data up to date requires an incredible amount of energy and time from the map owners. Validating that a point of interest is still there, open and available to visit makes the difference between a frustrated user and a very satisfied one. Michael R puts forth the terrific idea that there’s a win-win-win strategy to be employed, where the map data owner benefits from crowdsourcing the effort of keeping the maps up to date, the individual doing the updates benefits via contests/games/microtransactions, and the business establishment benefits as well from the attention of 3rd parties. While there are many examples of this kind of action — road munching from the early days of Waze, Swarm/Foursquare, Yelp reviews, the benefit to the crowdsource participant to improve/validate the map has not really been cracked yet.

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Ninja raked in nearly $10 million on 2018 — https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/02/ninja-raked-in-nearly-10-million-in-2018/

Wikipedia article: List of esports leagues and tournaments — https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-filed-a-patent-for-a-haptic-wearable-muscle-stimulator/

ZD Net article: Microsoft patent shows wearable band with haptic feedback — https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-filed-a-patent-for-a-haptic-wearable-muscle-stimulator/

Fast Company article: Patent reveal Apple is looking into “smart fabric” — https://www.fastcompany.com/90287049/new-apple-patents-reveal-smart-fabric-and-gaming-ambitions

TED Radio Hour 4 Jan 2019 episode: Extrasensory — https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2019-01-04

TED Radio Hour What’s It Like To Hear Color? — https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=283441986

Wired article: This Startup Is Challenging Google Maps — And It Needs You — https://www.wired.com/story/streetcred-mapping-cryptocurrency-needs-you/

Map NYC by StreetCred — https://mapnyc.streetcred.co

StreetCred — https://www.streetcred.co

Waze — https://www.waze.com

Foursquare — https://foursquare.com