Photo by Drew Graham on Unsplash

3D printing, Metaverse & Omniverse platforms, lightsabers, Mercedes EQS and code for NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter.  This week’s episode with Andy, Michael and Michael has it all.

The team starts off with a story about how surgeons are using 3D models to visualize the planning for their procedures.  Duke takes this one step further – printing out those 3D models.

Epic Games makes news with a $1 Billion (insert Austin Powers meme) funding round to bring their vision for the metaverse to life.  This story, along with Nvidia’s Omniverse Enterprise and the Core multiverse provides ample discussion points for the co-hosts. 

The Cruel World game from the Games that Shouldn’t Be Games Jam gets the next spotlight in the episode, mainly because the players are actively trying to keep the game going, when the mechanics would have indicated the opposite.

Wrapping things up for the episode, The co-hosts discuss the new Mercedes-Benz EQS and NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, marveling at the screens on the first, and the software bug fixes being sent to the latter.  By the time this episode is posted, Ingenuity may have achieved the first powered flight on another planet.  

Selected Links

DukeStories article: At the Heart of Research and Medicine — https://stories.duke.edu/at-the-heart-of-research-and-medicine 

Epic Games blog: Announcing a $1 Billion Funding Round to Support Epic’s Long-Term Vision for the Metaverse — https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/announcing-a-1-billion-funding-round-to-support-epics-long-term-vision-for-the-metaverse 

VentureBeat article: Epic Games raises $1B for long-term metaverse plans, with $200M from Sony — https://venturebeat.com/2021/04/13/epic-games-raises-1-billlion-to-fund-long-term-metaverse-plans/ 

Core — https://www.producthunt.com/posts/a-multiverse-of-games-created-by-you 

VentureBeat article: Nvidia reveals Omniverse Enterprise for simulating products and worlds — https://venturebeat.com/2021/04/12/nvidia-reveals-omniverse-enterprise-for-simulating-products-and-worlds/ 

Erik Brynjolfsson’s Machine Platform Cloud book — https://www.brynjolfsson.com/books 

The v28 update coming soon to the Quest Platform is a major one that unlocks more capabilities on Quest 2: 120Hz, Air Link, and Infinite Office updates—physical surface integration and the ability to track your physical keyboard in VR. pic.twitter.com/lorsVLV9Ik— Boz (@boztank) April 13, 2021

Vice article: Players Were Meant to Make ‘Cruel World’ Unplayable, Now They’re Saving It —