The Sniffer

Long-time listeners will know that Cathi Bond has an, ummm, interest? fixation? with tiny, well-designed housing, especially if it's mobile! She's particularly intrigued by Leaf House, a company that designs and builds elegant, tiny, organized mobile homes. You can find version 3 here, which features 'quad pane' windows, designed to make the home comfortable even in Arctic temperatures. You can see images here.

Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about Zoolafix, which aims to connect travelers to London or New York with a local 'fixer', based on shared common interests in nightlife. Your 'fixer' does things like line up for drinks and getting you into nightclubs (via Springwise). It's a good example of the ongoing trend in matching up people and services in different cities. Would you use it?

Howdy! It's been a long time, but we are back with a new episode! This time around, after years - and years - of talking about virtual reality, and augmented reality, they're finally here, and that means figuring out how to actually make it work seamlessly in daily life.

Researcher Pulkit Budhiraja and his colleagues have been thinking about a problem with virtual reality: how do you pick up physical, real world objects while you're in an immersive, virtual environment? (Via Technology Review)

Nora Young also mentions the Reality Cave at Communitech.

Has this happened to you? You get a link on social media that sounds like an interesting read, and then you're taken to a 5,000 word article? Great read, maybe, but so long! Cathi Bond talks about Pith.li, a sort of 'highlighter for the Internet' that allows you to share an article but highlight what you find interesting (via PSFK).

Cathi on designers creating solutions for plant sexuality because of decline in bees

Nora on robot-only opera plans

Nora mentions article about unsafe wifi in public

Cathi on Puls smart watch and Tiny Screen Kickstarter campaign

Nora on New Scientist on wearables at work and surveillance

Cathi on Bullet Screen experiments at the movies in China

Nora on Ami, AI scheduler, and etiquette

Nora on Internet Archive making searchable public domain images.

Nora on Ellie the AI psychologist

Cathi on Meg Watson re AI taking off

No podcast for the summer message

Cathi on 3D printer for makeup

Nora on writers pushing their fans to help sell the book

Nora on quantifiedtoilets.com

Cathi on boutique hotel styled STI testing

Cathi on Stockholm Art Week digital billboards open to all

Nora on tactility and physicality fueling creativity