Photo by Michael Martine, May 2021

Augmented thumb, World Cup, Eurovision & AI inspired music, Ford F-150 frunk, Zhurong & Zigbee on Mars, RasQberry quantum computing and more!

With all of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy references in recent episodes, Michael, Michael and Andy could not resist the story of a third thumb.  This experimental augmented appendage is noteworthy because of the rapidity with which the subjects got used to the extra thumb, and how much they missed it at the end of the study.  In a related story, the computer-brain interface leveraging the sensation of touch helped speed up the adoption and precision of the user.

Turning to the world of automotive mobility, there were several articles about electric vehicles – starting with a cure for range anxiety.  The cure?  Ubiquitous charging stations where the time to recharge (or swap batteries) approaches the time to fill up with gasoline.  This is closer to reality than one might think.  Also important, purchase price parity for the economics fans in the Games At Work audience — where the total cost of ownership, including the initial purchase price of the vehicle, is close to the fossil fuel powered competition.  The iconic Ford F-150 now has an electric version, replete with the ability to provide emergency household power and an enormous frunk.  Staying with battery power, check out the Qi-charging retrofit of an HP-25 calculator.  Quite an accomplishment to behold.  

Next up, several stories of home automation.  First off, an example for what happens when things go wrong, with the Eufy camera security issue.  Then when things go incredibly right – proven Zigbee home automation technology serving as the underpinnings for the Ingenuity helicopter communications.  And big recent news: the Chinese Zhurong rover successfully lands on Mars, and rolls off it’s platform to explore.  Space is indeed hard – and this is a tremendous accomplishment.  

Back on Earth, and continuing with the computing theme, this week’s Raspberry Pi story revolves around the qubit.  Jan and Robert Lahmann built out a Raspberry Pi using IBM’s Qiskit, calling the creation RasQberry.  Check out the code from the Github link and article in the show notes below.  

Rounding out the show this week are a couple of quick hit articles.  Nintendo Switch games, AirTags as NFC triggers, a LEGO Daily Bugle kit and AI taking a famous Spice Girls song and reimagining it as a Nine Inch Nails tune.  What would be your recommendation to pass through the Nine Inch Nails AI?  Perhaps the #Eurovision2021 winner?

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Review: Apple’s 2021 iPad Pro is great, again, but… — https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/19/review-apples-2021-ipad-pro-is-great-again-but/

Six Colors article: 2021 iPad Pro review: All systems go, but where? — https://sixcolors.com/post/2021/05/2021-ipad-pro-review/ 

Eurovision 2021 — https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/songs-videos 

Gizmodo article: Like ‘A Part of Their Body’: People Adapt to an Extra Thumb in Fascinating Experiment — https://gizmodo.com/like-a-part-of-their-body-people-adapt-to-an-extra-thu-1846926329