The Sniffer

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Hey there! We are back! This time, Nora Young talks about "aeroponics": a sort of next gen hydroponics where the plant roots are just dangling out in the air, nourished by nutrient-rich misters (via Modern Farmer). You can even "plant" them vertically. Whole new potential for a plant wall! Nora also mentions the fine folks at Normative Design in Toronto, and their smart and engaging series on Design + AI. Cathi Bond talks about this PSFK article exploring how brands are starting to use cartoon characters and mascots in real world physical experiences, such as hotels and cafes; examples include a Toy Story hotel, and a Hello Kitty cafe. The aesthetic is colourful, childlike and plastic-y. What's up with that? We have some theories!

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Best of the season to you! Cathi and I are back with some fun for the holidays. This time on the podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Affetto, this startlingly realistic android robot. Cathi wonders about having something like this, or Rock Hudson, say, as a home companion. Personally, I (Nora) find it kinda creepy. What do you think? We take a quick look at the city of Helsinki's decision to go for a hiring system that removes all personally identifying info (eg sex, age, mother tongue) in an effort to get beyond bias in hiring. It seems to have worked for orchestras; could it work for city governments? Cathi is also pretty obsessed with drones these days, like the tiny dji Mavic Pro (see the review at New Atlas) Would you like a drone of your own? How should they be regulated in light of the recent events at Gatwick airport? And as always this time of year, the greatest Christmas movie ever, The Thin Man!

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Hi all! Thanks for coming back! We've been a long time gone, but we are at it again! This time, Nora Young talks about the challenges streaming film services have, and this Forbes article about how two niche movie streaming services have managed -- or not -- to make a go of it. Cathi Bond thinks there's a lot to be learned from the cable world in the form of Turner Classic Movies. Cathi looks at a really cool idea in place in China: dropping small, modernist, smartly designed housing 'inserts' called "Plugin Houses into dilapidated buildings. Check out the story and lots of images at New Atlas. Could this be a model for elsewhere? Also, super snappy recommendation: this Vox explainer on those iconic Blue Note album covers!

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

Apologies for the long delay, but we are back at last! This time, dockless bikes are all the rage, promising wheels when you need them, without having to lock them up at dedicated stations, the way you do with Toronto's Bike Share, or Montreal's Bixi. Now, one of the leaders in the dockless bike space, Lime, is taking advantage of the GPS-enabled nature of the bikes to share anonymized data with cities (via Technology Review). Smart use of data being collected anyway, and smart PR move to get cities onside. Meanwhile, Cathi looks at this story by New Atlas about a laser rifle from China, that is supposed to be powerful and lightweight. Some are skeptical, some are worried.

Listen to writer/broadcasters Nora Young and Cathi Bond as they freak over the future. They can't believe it. Neither will you.

On this podcast episode, Nora Young talks about a super smart idea for capturing the wind energy created by passing vehicles: small wind turbines along the roadside. See more at Core77. Meanwhile Cathi Bond has two cool earbud designs for you. Firefly are quick charging, inexpensive wieless earbuds with long battery life (via NewAtlas). Then there's Bose's innovation: sleepbuds, designed to be noise cancelling and super comfortable to help you sleep (via Engadget)