Episode 160 – 3D OBD

src = obdii.com Car? Whar? Over thar! Michael & Michael get together to talk about one of the original examples of augmented reality, the Head Up Display (HUD) for cars, and explore the example of the Hudway Glass, an ingeniously simple Kickstarter product that allows a user to place their phone on the dash and have the phone’s display reflected back to the driver. Michael R remembers an app with this kind of capability from way back when called V-Cockpit. Keeping with the pretty clever car theme, the pair then move to the innovation that Ford is bringing to the … Continue reading

Episode 159 – Virtually Secure

Michael R and Michael M, go deep on virtual assistants and the security storm around WhatsApp in the news recently. We also look at how an old virtual world shopping experience may be coming to life in virtual reality. The duo start with the Facebook/Oculus tour of the White House and think about whether movies and television shows have the layout and rooms of the building right.  Michael and Michael quickly then turn to Amazon’s focus on virtual reality shopping experiences stemming from articles from TechCrunch and Variety.  Michael R shares his experiences in developing just this kind of experience … Continue reading

Episode 158 – 2017 Kickoff

We kick off 2017 with a short show.  Michael M. and Phaedra discuss an augmented reality app launched in conjunction with the recently released movie “Hidden Figures”, review Smart Canes and have a lively discussion about the challenges surrounding video capture and the importance of thorough testing from the Kotaku article — a good reminder for everyone involved in technology development. The augmented reality app (App Store — Google Play) has the user go to specific geographic locations, such as on the University of North Carolina campus to unlock content related to the stories and accomplishments of STEM leaders.  Michael gave this a try, and the … Continue reading

Episode 155 – Holiday Potluck

Gearing up for the festive season, Michael and Michael serve up a veritable smorgasbord of holiday potluck delights. Starting with well, um, leftovers from last week, Fitbit has indeed acquired the technology, software assets and intellectual property of Pebble and many of the people from Pebble will be joining Fitbit to continue their work on wearable technology. This brings up an interesting point on the nature of cloud services and the integration with physical devices — that one without the other does not work, as products and services are becoming more and more intertwined. Moving on to appetizers, Cortana now … Continue reading