Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Andy and Michael M. geek out on NASA’s latest rover sticking the landing on Mars.  And the rover Perseverance brought the helicopter drone Ingenuity along for the ride.  If all goes well, this will be the first controlled flight on another planet, reminiscent of the Wright Brothers’ flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  

In soundscape news, Andy shares the “I Miss My Bar” audio experience to remind you of what it was like to be in your local.  This reminds Michael of the I Miss the Office soundscape.  Andy and Michael then take a look at Andy Baio’s Skittish, where the virtual reality environment also includes a spatial audio component to the experience.  Both Andy and Michael have signed up and can’t wait to give this world a spin.  Going back briefly to last week’s episode, Michael shares his excitement to participate in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming VR production of Dream.

News of vehicles being used for generators and batteries in Texas features in the next couple of articles.  Ford’s newest F-150 truck provides an onboard generator for heavy duty electrical equipment at a job site and is very useful to provide power during the massive outages in Texas.  Likewise, Tesla owners take advantage of their cars’ battery to power their homes during the outage.  Speaking of batteries, check out the super cute Battery Buddy.

Returning to the running set of examples of what can run Doom, the cohosts share a story of Doom running on cardboard.  Check out the video below for all the deets.

In a crossover between LEGO, AR and reality, Universal Music Group signs L.L.A.M.A. to the label.  And in the world of tv shows and film, the full compliment of co-hosts talk Tolkien and D&D to round out this week’s episode, showing the full range of topics, from cardboard Doom to Khazad-dûm.

Selected Links

NASA Mars 2020 — https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mars2020/#/home?time=2021-02-18T15:44:05.046-05:00&rate=0&id=surface_operations 

IEEE Spectrum article: How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars — https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/aerospace/robotic-exploration/nasa-designed-perseverance-helicopter-rover-fly-autonomously-mars 

CNN article: Ingenuity helicopter phones home from Mars — https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/world/mars-ingenuity-helicopter-update-scn-trnd/index.html 

National Park Service Wight Brother’s National Memorial in North Carolina — https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm 

The Verge article: I Miss My Bar is like audio therapy for barflies — https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/11/22278889/i-miss-my-bar-maverick-site-sounds-playlist-people-talking 

Games At Work episode 270: Virtual Bricks —