Photo by jesse ramirez on Unsplash

Beginning a long time ago in a cantina far, far away, the co-hosts discuss the continuing changing saga of who shot first with the newest “enhanced edition” of the iconic scene with Han Solo and Greedo on the Disney+ release of Star Wars: A New Hope.  Michael R shares his experience with the new NASA app that allows you to pilot either the Boeing Starliner or Space X Crew Dragon to a successful docking.  

The article on BMW’s gesture control triggers Michael and Michael’s memories of using the Palm OS Graffiti script, and makes them wonder whether there will be a ubiquitous user experience for gesture control.

North Carolina makes history with CVS and UPS pairing up for the first paid drone home delivery of prescriptions in Cary after the success UPS has had with their drones at WakeMed in Raleigh.

The pair marvel at the internet of beer AI smart taps and the MIT mini-cheetah robots playing soccer, as well as the new LEGO rendition of the 1989 Batmobile.  Closing out this week’s episode on a musical note, Michael and Michael talk about the FreddieMeter, which uses AI to show how much like Freddie Mercury your voice is when you belt out Bohemian Rhapsody, and reflect on the upcoming 40th anniversary of Pac-Man with the classic Buckner & Garcia tune, Pac-Man Fever.

Hope you enjoy the ‘cast as well as the links below! 

Selected Links

BuzzFeed article:  “Star Wars: A New Hope” Changed The Iconic Han Solo And Greedo Scene (Again) For Disney+ — https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/star-wars-han-solo-greedo-scene-changed-again-disney-plus 

TechCrunch article: New NASA app puts you in the pilot’s seat of Boeing’s Starliner or SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/13/new-nasa-app-puts-you-in-the-pilots-seat-of-boeings-starliner-or-spacexs-crew-dragon/ 

Ender’s Game by Orsen Scott Card — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender’s_Game 

Wikipedia article: Lunar Lander (1979 video game) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lander_(1979_video_game) 

TechCrunch article: BMW’s magical gesture control finally makes sense as touchscreens take over cars — https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/04/bmws-magical-gesture-control-finally-makes-sense-as-touchscreens-take-over-cars/ 

Wingarium Leviosa

Wikipedia article: Graffiti (Palm OS) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS) 

designboom article: pubinno’s ‘internet of beer’ uses AI powered smart taps to serve the perfect pint — https://www.designboom.com/technology/pubinno-internet-of-beer-ai-powered-smart-taps-11-12-2019/ 

Picture by Michael Martine, 2016

Celebrating the 250th episode of Games At Work, Michael and Michael focus this week on several stories about augmented vision.  The rumored Apple Glasses resurface, and speaking of surfaces, a new kickstarter for holographic tabletop gaming takes center stage, reminding Michael and Michael about some earlier conversations on other virtual tabletop concepts.  Michael R discusses his passions for flying robots, and the amazing camera shots that can be done with the Mavic Mini, a 249g drone that can go just about anywhere you do.  

And this episode doesn’t stop with bots that fly.  MIT’s self-assembling and swarming cubes capture the interest of the co-hosts, and recall the novel from Daniel Suarez about swarming technology, as well as episode 150.  Rounding out this episode is a must-see example of a science fair prototype that 14-year-old Alaina Gassler built to solve the problem of the A-pillar blind spot in automobiles.  Her creativity is astounding, and it is easy to see how this will be a great way to augment drivers’ vision in the very near future!

Happy viewing (and listening!)

Selected Links

I Can See Clearly Now 

Seeking Alpha article: Apple Pay overtakes PayPal – Appleinsider — https://seekingalpha.com/news/3513168-apple-pay-overtakes-paypal-appleinsider 

iMore article: Yelp updates Apple Watch app with compass support for Apple Watch Series 5 — https://www.imore.com/yelp-updates-apple-watch-app-compass-support-apple-watch-series-5 

tom’s guide article: Apple Glasses Details Just Revealed by Bloomberg — https://www.tomsguide.com/news/apple-glasses-details-just-revealed-by-bloomberg 

Bloomberg Businessweek article: Apple’s Smart Glasses Could Make 2020 the Year of AR — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-21/why-2020-is-looking-great-for-apple-products-and-consumer-gadgets 

The Verge article: Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion — https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/1/20943318/google-fitbit-acquisition-fitness-tracker-announcement 

Kickstarter: Tilt Five: Holographic Tabletop Gaming — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiltfive/holographic-tabletop-gaming 

VR Scout article: Geek & Sundry Debuts Weekly VR180 Board Game Series — https://vrscout.com/news/geek-sundry-vr180-board-game-series/# 

gamesatwork.biz episode 199 — Augmented GDPR Reality — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/05/28/episode-199-augmented-gdpr-reality/ 

DJI Mavic Mini — https://www.dji.com/mavic-mini?from=store-product-page 

Real Clear Science article: New Lithium Ion Battery Design Could Allow Electric Vehicles to Be...

Moonrise on Hatteras Island, Michael Martine 2011

While somehow avoiding any discussion of the Green Lantern Corps, Michael and Michael talk through some ring wearable concepts and move into the religious quantified self realm with the eRosary, an IoT device to help keep track of prayers.  It is incredible to imagine the data streams coming from such devices.

Changing themes from data streams to the open oceans, and specifically to Coral Vita’s novel means for coral reef rebuilding, growing coral at 50 times the normal rates.  Imagine the impact this could bring to restoring the health of the ocean habitats. This story reminded Michael M of a novel approach that University of Lancaster researchers are working on to strengthen concrete using carrots and sugar beet fibers.  

Also in this episode, there are conversations on Sonos’ stereo-as-a-service offering, robots machine learning their way to a feel for how to grasp objects and solve a Rubik’s cube one handed, boarding alerts now being included in the American Airlines mobile app and some retro & current games.  

Selected Links

iDrop article: ‘Apple Ring’ May Be in Development with Touch Screen, NFC and More — https://www.idropnews.com/rumors/apple-ring-may-be-in-development-with-touch-screen-nfc-and-more/120605/ 

Echo Loop Smart Ring with Alexa Day 1 Editions product — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JPK4XJ6/ref=sxts_snpl_1_0_53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb?pd_rd_w=PxX63&pf_rd_p=53133e95-1613-47ff-a8b9-9f163f49e8fb&pf_rd_r=FZDY1EWCREPCPZNAMQH1&pd_rd_r=c7ff58c4-976c-4a2a-9cd5-f42cdfdcade4&pd_rd_wg=ih389&qid=1571584953 

CNBC article: Vatican launches $110 smart Rosary bracelet that tracks your prayers — https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/vatican-launches-110-smart-rosary-bracelet-that-tracks-your-prayers.html 

Click to Pray (how does it work?) — https://clicktopray.org/how-does-click-to-pray-work/ 

Click to Pray eRosary app — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/click-to-pray-erosary/id1477960251 

TechCrunch article: In the Accelerator over the Sea — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/16/in-the-accelerator-over-the-sea/ 

Beyond the Sea

Coral Vita — https://www.coralvita.co 

Japan Times article — Carrot nanomaterial found to make cement stronger and greener — https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/20/world/offbeat-world/carrot-nanomaterial-found-make-cement-stronger-greener/#.Xax_EC-ZOuB 

CelluComp’s Curran: Revolutionary Technology: Vegetables used for high-performance materials — https://www.cellucomp.

Photo by Toimetaja tõlkebüroo on Unsplash

Michael and Michael get together for a distraction-filled episode, including innovations from London Cocktail Week, x-ray spec radio cameras, the potential for soldiers to be distracted on the battle field with their screens and how rocket ride sharing along with payload standardization are making launching satellites into orbit easier than ever.

Check out the episode and links below!  We think you’ll be — oh, look!  A squirrel! 

Selected Links

Slate article: What, and Why, Is a Whisky Pod? — https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/10/whisky-pod-edible-seaweed-encased-cocktails-why.html 

Notpla — https://www.notpla.com 

The Glenlivet — https://www.theglenlivet.com/ 

London Cocktail Week 2019 — https://drinkup.london/cocktailweek 

Tubthumping – They Might Be Giants & The AV Club Chorus

MIT Technology Review article: Machine vision has learned to use radio waves to see through walls and in darkness — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614470/machine-vision-has-learned-to-use-radio-waves-to-see-through-walls-and-in-darkness/ 

Wired article: The Dangers of Distracted Fighting — https://www.wired.com/story/the-dangers-of-distracted-fighting/ 

MIT Technology Review article: Rocket ride-shares could make going to space like catching a bus — https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614519/rocket-ride-shares-could-make-going-to-space-like-catching-a-bus/ 

NASA article: NASA Mission Supports Launch of CubeSats Built by Middle and High School Students — https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-mission-supports-launch-of-cubesats-built-by-middle-and-high-school-students 

What’s Happening!! TV Show Intro 70’s — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZG97YMWTn0&feature=youtu.be

Ultimate Metal forum post: Barry Manilow loves Iron Maiden — http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/barry-manilow-loves-iron-maiden.206724/ 

Roseanne Roseannadanna — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne_Roseannadanna 

boas.io — https://boas.io 

slither.io — http://slither.io 

Spaceland —

Photo by Michael Martine, 2019

While battling through some acoustic difficulties (due to Michael M’s missing microphone – sorry!) Michael and Michael have a truly “off the cuff” discussion that starts with the amazing success that the Nintendo Switch game Untitled Goose Game has had.  We’re sure that this is not due to the Games At Work bump from episode 244, but who knows?  A game that Michael R is very familiar with:  Dungeon Keeper, is introduced to Michael M, who promptly downloads it for a weekend’s gameplay.  

A bit of a blast from the past resurfaces: the partnership between Google and Levis with the Jacquard wearables to allow the wearer to interact with their associated computing devices with gestures.   This reminds the co-hosts of the Leap Motion interface.

Winding up this short show, Michael and Michael talk through the challenges (and linguistic gynnastics) involved in the robotic picking of strawberries, the trapped in carbonate Han Solo meatloaf pan (O Solo Meatloaf), and the checklist necessary for preparing for shuffling off your mortal coil.  

Selected Links

BBC article: How a horrible goose topped the gaming chart — https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49852317 

Dungeon Keeper — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Keeper 

Dungeon Keeper on iOS — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-keeper/id659212032 

TechCrunch article: Google brings its Jacquard wearables tech to Levi’s Trucker Jacket — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/30/google-brings-its-jacquard-wearables-tech-to-levis-trucker-jacket/ 

Jacquard by Google — https://atap.google.com/jacquard/collaborations/levi-trucker/ 

Leap Motion — https://www.leapmotion.com 

TechCrunch article: Traptic uses 3D vision and robotic arms to harvest ripe strawberries — https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/02/traptic-uses-3d-vision-and-robotic-arms-to-harvest-ripe-strawberries/ 

Fortress of Solitude article: Star Wars x Le Creuset Embark On An Epic Kitchen Adventure — https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/star-wars-x-le-creuset-embark-on-an-epic-kitchen-adventure/ 

Wirecutter article:  Get Your Digital Accounts Ready In Case of Death — https://thewirecutter.com/blog/get-your-digital-accounts-ready-in-case-of-death/

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Photo by Conor Luddy on Unsplash

A pair of Boston Dynamics robots catch Michael & Michael’s attention this week — Atlas, with it’s amazing (and quiet!) ninja parkour capabilities, and Spot, now being made available to the market.  

Several cool applications are part of this week’s program, from High Fidelity’s app to create VR avatars, to celebrity voices for Alexa & TomTom navigation, to improving your surfing skills via Surfline, to making better consumer choices in the grocery store with Yuka and Seafood Watch, and tracking the value of the time spent in meetings with our very own cohost Michael Rowe’s WastedTime app.

An interesting account of a couple’s backstory and costume construction for their vacation to Disney’s recently opened Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge sparks a conversation on how entertainment is evolving to become more and more immersive.

Surf on over, dive right in, and give this episode a listen!

Selected Links

Tech Crunch article: Atlas the humanoid robot shows off a new and improved gymnastics routine — https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/24/atlas-the-humanoid-robot-shows-off-a-new-and-improved-gymnastics-routine/ 

Wired article: Spot, the 4-Legged Robot, Is Ready to Go for a Walk — https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-424/ 

Parkour — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour 

Venture Beat article: High Fidelity’s new mobile app turns your selfies in to VR avatars — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/22/high-fidelitys-new-mobile-app-turns-your-selfies-into-vr-avatars/ 

High Fidelity — https://www.highfidelity.com 

High Fidelity movie — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/ 

USA today article: Amazon to offer Samuel L. Jackson voice for Alexa.  He’ll curse, if you want — https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/09/25/samuel-l-jackson-first-celebrity-voice-amazon-alexa/2447992001/ 

Samuel L. Jackson – celebrity voice for Alexa — https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-L-Jackson-celebrity-voice/dp/B07WS3HN5Q 

TomTom Mr. T voice — https://www.tomtom.com/en_us/drive/maps-services/shop/navigation-voices/mr-t/ 

Kotaku article: Three Months of Prep Made Our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Trip Amazing — https://kotaku.com/three-months-of-prep-made-our-star-wars-galaxys-edge-t-1838364921 

CNet article: Star Wars meets ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ in epic geeky parody —

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Augmentation abounds in this edition of Games At Work!  Starting off with a wearable that you wear as a suit, Michael and Michael talk about the amazing Teslasuit, with its haptic feedback system and muscle-memory developing capabilities for learning, and teaching how to move your body.  The next augmentation is from Bose, with the AR Frames, and have the augmented positional audio is used via these glasses to give an even more immersive experience to gameplay.  Michael and Michael “spec”ulate on how the combination of Bose audio technology could be combined with Magic Leap, Hololens or other AR glasses.  Michael R introduces another wearable – the MN8 earbuds from Emotiv which allow the collection of brain data without looking like a cyborg.  Michael M is reminded then of the biometric possibilities of the ear canal, which actually has been a promising way for unique identification for a number of years.

Switching from wearables to software, the co-hosts marvel at the AI and machine learning powered Relonch AI app which puts the power of a Hollywood lighting crew in your phone to make amazing effects effortless.  While not currently available in the US App Store, Michael and Michael hope that it will be available soon.  And for those that want a hard copy of their digital pictures, have a look at the Polaroid Lab, which creates a hard copy picture of your cell phone picture just like the Polaroid camera did.

Selected Links

International Talk Like a Pirate Day — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day 

Teslasuit — https://teslasuit.io 

VentureBeat article: Bose’s AR Frames get a narrative gaming boost — https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/15/boses-ar-frames-get-a-narrative-gaming-boost-from-the-team-behind-that-dragon-cancer/

Bose AR Frames — https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/frames.html 

The Dragon, Cancer — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Dragon,_Cancer 

Episode 219 — Do You Hear What I Hear — https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/12/10/episode-218-do-you-hear-what-i-hear/ 

Emotiv blog: The Real Future of Work — https://www.emotiv.com/blog/the-real-future-of-work/ 

Gizmodo article: Researchers Think It’s a Good Idea to Secure Your Phone Using the One Thing You Perpetually Lose — https://gizmodo.com/researchers-think-its-a-good-idea-to-secure-your-phone-1838248232 

Wired article: Ears Could Make Better Unique IDs Than Fingerprints — https://www.wired.com/2010/11/ears-biometric-identification/ 

Relonch AI — https://relonch.

Photo by Leonardo Sanches on Unsplash

This episode starts off with a virtual tour of 17th century London, courtesy of the Pudding Lane team’s entry to a British Library Digital Scholarship a couple of years ago.  The experience created with Crytek’s CRYENGINE holds up over the years, and the detail included in this entry is phenomenal, from the rope at the docks to the textures of the window glass, and the rooms they gently obscure behind them.

Secret crushes feature prominently in the new Facebook Dating capabilities, which have just now been deployed to the US Facebook app.  It will be very interesting to see how the user population begins to take advantage of the new functionality.

Star Wars makes a musical appearance courtesy of the British musician Sam Battle, where Lego droids form an entire orchestra to play the John Williams theme.  Also included in the VOTD link is a longer making-of video that is well worth checking out.  Continuing with A New Hope, Lego debuts the Ultimate Collector Series Imperial Star Destroyer battleship from the opening of the the movie, and the 4,784 piece set, along with a couple of minifigs and a to-scale model of the Tantive IV, which is pretty tiny, can be yours for a cool $699.

The cohosts round out this episode with an announcement story from the House House team about a new game called Untitled Goose Game, and some anticipation of the Apple event coming up next week.

Selected Links

Open Culture article: Prize-Winning Animation Lets You Fly Through 17th Century London — http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/fly-through-17th-century-london.html 

British Library Digital Scholarship blog: Off The Map Winners Announced — https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2013/10/off-the-map-winners-announced.html 

Pudding Lane blog — http://puddinglanedmuga.blogspot.com 

Crytek’s CRYENGINE — https://www.crytek.com/cryengine 

9To5Mac article: Facebook Dating available now, with Secret Crush feature, but concerns raised — https://9to5mac.com/2019/09/06/facebook-dating/ 

Daily Tech News Show episode: You’re in My Facebook Top 9 – DTNS 3610 — http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/youre-in-my-facebook-top-9-dtns-3610/ 

Marsbot — https://marsbotapp.com 

SlashFilm article: VOTD: Watch the ‘Star Wars’ Theme Played by a LEGO Droid Orchestra with Real Instruments — https://www.slashfilm.com/lego-droids-play-the-star-wars-theme/

Ars Technica article:  This $700 Lego Star Destroyer is as close as you’ll get to the real thing — https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/09/this-700-lego-star-destroyer-is-as-close-as-youll-get-to-...

Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash

Bots, drones, and immersive experiences abound in this episode of Games At Work.  Michael and Michael start things off with some new insight about the Minecraft Earth closed beta limited availability — which explains why they have not yet had the chance to try it out!  On the other hand, Nintendo’s newest contribution is about to hit the app store in the form of Mario Kart tour for iOS.

The North Carolina company Lucid Drone Tech has a solution for pressure washing homes and buildings in a drone-powered way.  This leads to the suggestion that similarly equipped drones could be used to specifically target lawn watering.  Michael R mentions the Mavic Pro as the drone on his wish list.  And how about that video of the Robosen T9?  More than meets the eye, for sure! 

The Disney Imagineering team has majorly outdone themselves with the announcement of the newest hotel property – the Halcyon, a galactic starship where are you are immersively experienced in the Star Wars universe, interacting with characters and living out your story.  Michael R shares how he’s been reminiscing in the World of Warcraft immersive virtual world of Azeroth with WoW Classic.  

A veritable trifecta – containing Lego, Star Wars and drones, this episode has it all!  

Selected Links

TechCrunch article: Minecraft Earth closed beta goes live on Android in five cities — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/30/minecraft-earth-closed-beta-goes-live-on-android-in-five-cities/ 

TechCrunch article: Mario Kart Tour arrives on iOS and Android on September 25 — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/mario-kart-tour-arrives-on-ios-and-android-on-september-25/ 

Mario Kart Tour Pre-Order on App Store — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mario-kart-tour/id1293634699 

Super Luigi Bros article: The Evolution of Mario — http://www.superluigibros.com/evolution-of-mario 

Inverse article: 5 Best Coding Games for Kids — https://www.inverse.com/article/58713-best-coding-games-for-kids 

The Verge article:  Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset may go on sale in September — https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/29/20838085/microsofts-hololens-2-headset-release-date-september 

xinhua.net article: Shanghai hosts 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference to boost innovation — http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/29/c_138347768_2.htm 

TechCrunch article: Lucid’s drone is built to clean the outside of your house or office — https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/lucids-drone-is-built-to-clean-the-outside-of-your...

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Minecraft is back in the the Games At Work feed for this episode because of the improvements in both the ray tracing and AR capabilities included in Minecraft Earth.  Michael and Michael agree that the ray tracing takes Minecraft a bit too far away from the 8-bit roots, while the ability to build in AR is right up their proverbial alley.  

After checking out a few other AR apps from the Mashable list, the co-hosts marvel at what appears at first to be a random walk by several people looking intently at their phones, but in reality is a group who are rapidly mapping in 3D their surroundings using only their phone cameras and a new api from 6D.ai.  While certainly an expected feature and need for autonomous vehicles, the ability to create dynamic maps in real time by walking around with your camera could prove to be enormously valuable, and make everyone a contributor to keeping maps up to date.

Rounding out this episode with a discussion on bluetooth security and the cat and mouse efforts with credit card skimmers, Michael and Michael didn’t have quite enough time to talk about all the cool articles from the week.  The ones they thought interesting are included in the bonus links below.  

Check out the links and have a listen to the podcast!

Selected Links

The Next Web article: Minecraft with ray tracing looks so good I actually want to play it — https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2019/08/19/minecraft-with-ray-tracing-looks-so-good-i-actually-want-to-play-it/ 

Andy Piper’s tweet about Minecraft Earth

Hey @GamesAtWork_Biz how are we enjoying Minecraft Earth? pic.twitter.com/x8sQTTC3nA— Pipes (@andypiper) August 21, 2019

Minecraft Earth — https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/earth 

Macworld article: 10 augmented reality apps for iPhone and iPad you should be using right now — https://www.macworld.com/article/3390180/best-augmented-reality-ar-apps-for-ios-iphone-ipad.html 

New World Notes article: Watch: Real World Location Virtually Recreated To Scale In Minutes — https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2019/08/volumetric-mirror-world-mapping-6d_ai.html 

6D.ai — https://www.6d.ai 

SLAM, Simultaneous localization and mapping — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_mapping 

New World Notes article:  Sansar Getting Experience Points & Questions — Smart Break From Linden Labs’s Past “Second Life Is Not a Game” Mistake — https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2019/08/sansar-linden-lab-social-vr-backstory-quest-system.html