Episode 193 – Icy Robotic HomePods

Curling at the 2018 Pyeonchang Winter Olympics Michael M welcomes the HomePod and it’s robotic assistant Siri to his home, and shares some of his good experiences with his new smart speaker, not the least of which was listening to the radio broadcast of the Tar Heel Sports Network synchronized to the television video courtesy of the Tunecast app and the HomePod. The 2018 Pyeong Chang Olympics’ opening ceremony incorporated augmented reality and drones, much to the delight of the Games At Work crew.  Michael R pointed out the challenges involved in the droneshow, remembering the Super Bowl 51 weather, … Continue reading

Episode 189 – Year End Tech Blues

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 … Continue reading

Episode 183 – Enhanced Reality

Michael & Michael talk about the promise of bots who listen into meetings, take notes & action items on your behalf, entering them into your tool of choice for follow up.  Talk about the power of the pen — and quite a step up from “Alexa, add eggs to my grocery list”. Michael R brings up the fact that we’re still in a generation 1.1 world when it comes to AR — really in the beginning stages.  Starting point will be in enterprise and entertainment before AR applications begin to really show up outside of these areas. Intriguing question:  are … Continue reading

Episode 181 – Robotic Rockband

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 … Continue reading