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.

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Continuum Infinitum, a supercool continuous video loop (via Gizmodo). Watch the video here. She also mentions Snarg. Cathi and Nora talk internet art. What do you think defines it? Nora mentions Grocery Trip, and the work of Darius Kazemi. Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about this Fast Company article by Veronique Lafargue on how the folks at Google brainstorm. Some of it is familiar (eg, don't shoot down ideas), but some is really new: in particular, don't follow up brainstorming with more meetings. Instead, go straight to prototype!

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, Cathi Bond talks about a soft, lightweight "exosuit" created by the Wyss Institute at Harvard, and ReWalk Robotics (via Gizmag). Unlike other experiments in exoskeletons designed for people who can't move their legs, this is a support for people with some mobility impairment. Nora mentions this segment on her show, Spark. Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about Smart Slab, a design for a 'smart' table that offers heating, cooling, and device charging. In addition to being great looking, it's the kind of design Nora and Cathi think we could see a lot more of in our connected future (check out the pictures via Core77)

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

Nora Young talks about new research into creating an AI that can read and 'understand' a news article with greater accuracy than Google's DeepMind had previously been able to do (via New Scientist). What does it mean for the future, now that AI is getting so good at recognizing and interpreting text, images, faces, and speech? Cathi Bond continues on the artificial intelligence tip with research out of Stanford into robots that can navigate pedestrian sidewalks, where we chaotic humans can behave in unexpected ways (via Gizmag). The Jackrabbot, as it's called, is even cute! Care to rate us on iTunes?

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

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about the Adobe Experience Manager, which uses aggregated data to give retailers the inside track on what a customer might be interested in. Read more at PSFK. Nora Young talks about Imzy, a new online community (currently in private beta) that has strategies to try to make sure it is a "nice" place (via Ars Technica). Is bad behaviour something that can be solved by strategies and design, or are some people always going to be bad actors?

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

This time, Nora Young talks about AltspaceVR, a new, social network using Virtual Reality. Read Motherboard's hands-on coverage here. Cathi refers back to our chat about holoportation. Cathi Bond looks at the HET Health and Environment Tracker (via Gizmag). It's a combination wristband and chest patch for people with asthma. It monitors both the wearers biometric data (including signs of wheezing) and environmental data. Smart!  Thanks for listening, and we hope you'll consider rating us!