The Sniffer

Hello! Hope you are safe and healthy. Cathi Bond and Nora Young connect over video chat for another ep.

Nora talks about this great Guardian article by Rhik Samadder on how we've lost the art of small talk in our socially isolated pods, and why the pandemic-imposed isolation has just sped up our tech-driven communication problems.

Cathi talks about this article on the therapeutic uses for psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, in treating depression. 

Thanks for listening, and be well!

 

This time on the podcast, Nora Young talks about Adam Grant's new book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You don't Know. Great article and summary here. Cathi Bond looks at a pilot project to use pre-existing natural gas pipelines to transport hydrogen for use in vehicles (via New Atlas).

This time on the podcast, Nora Young talks about Adam Grant's new book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You don't Know. Great article and summary here.

Cathi Bond looks at a pilot project to use pre-existing natural gas pipelines to transport hydrogen for use in vehicles (via New Atlas). 

We are back! Cathi Bond and Nora Young got together (virtually!) to talk future of retail and carbon footprint. Cathi talks about Showfields, a digital/physical hybrid store in New York, and their new Magic Wand app (via PSFK).  Nora talks about this article from two Université de Montréal professor/researchers on the 'hidden infrastructure' required for machine learning: the carbon footprint of training machine learning applications on lots of data.  Hope you're all well and coping ok!

We are back! Cathi Bond and Nora Young got together (virtually!) to talk future of retail and carbon footprint.

Cathi talks about Showfields, a digital/physical hybrid store in New York, and their new Magic Wand app (via PSFK). 

Nora talks about this article from two Université de Montréal professor/researchers on the 'hidden infrastructure' required for machine learning: the carbon footprint of training machine learning applications on lots of data. 

Hope you're all well and coping ok! 

This time, Cathi Bond and Nora Young "get together" virtually from their respective homes for a pandemic-appropriate recording. Nora talks about Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company (check out the details and images at Fast Company). The shuttle design reminded Nora that Toyota is aiming at a similar shuttle application, and that autonomous vehicles supported by LIDAR technology was a buzzy topic at this year's CES.  Cathi Bond has been thinking about Netflix, which has commissioned a ton of original content for 2021. She wonders if it could signal a return to the old Hollywood studio system for a new era.

This time, Cathi Bond and Nora Young "get together" virtually from their respective homes for a pandemic-appropriate recording.

Nora talks about Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company (check out the details and images at Fast Company). The shuttle design reminded Nora that Toyota is aiming at a similar shuttle application, and that autonomous vehicles supported by LIDAR technology was a buzzy topic at this year's CES. 

Cathi Bond has been thinking about Netflix, which has commissioned a ton of original content for 2021. She wonders if it could signal a return to the old Hollywood studio system for a new era.

Before the December deep chill set in Cathi Bond and Nora Young got together in Nora's backyard to talk tech. Cathi Bond talks about Oceanbird, a huge, wind-powered shipping vessel that relies on very innovative technology. It's being designed by Wallenius Marine out of Sweden. Check out the images at Dezeen. Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about this Guardian article about a pilot project in the Netherlands to cut the power to speeding ebikes. Sensible safety measure or nanny state run amok?

Before the December deep chill set in Cathi Bond and Nora Young got together in Nora's backyard to talk tech.

Cathi Bond talks about Oceanbird, a huge, wind-powered shipping vessel that relies on very innovative technology. It's being designed by Wallenius Marine out of Sweden. Check out the images at Dezeen.

Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about this Guardian article about a pilot project in the Netherlands to cut the power to speeding ebikes. Sensible safety measure or nanny state run amok? 

On this podcast, Nora and Cathi continue from Nora's backyard with a couple of contemporary robotics stories. Nora mentions fire fighting robots rolling out for use in Los Angeles (via Core77). As we've seen during the pandemic, there are plenty of roles for robots to work in dangerous situations, but is it time for international rules to govern the uses robots can be put to? Cathi has an innovative use too: little walking robots that can move huge buildings to make way for a new development. Watch the video of them in action here.