Episode #28: Apple Vision Pro, Nasa X-Link, VirtualBrain, Swedish Chef, and travel currency

Rick and Shaun talk about the Apple Vision Pro. What are its fun features, how do they work, and who’s the device really for? Plus, the Nasa/Boeing X-Plane, ChatGPT for content creation and travelling

Jun 25, 2023

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Preamble

From gadgets to dentist visits, where are we spending our technology savings? It sounds like services are making more money than anything. Rick has another rant about Spotify, having tried out the new AI DJ.

Tempting Tech - VirtualBrain, Gita and X-Plane

Shaun's been distracted by a number of techie things since the last episode. One of which is the Gita follow robot, which is essentially a container on wheels that follows you around.

Shaun’s other tech of the week was about VirtualBrain, a beta developed by Guillaume Marquis. Imagine if your productivity and note-taking tool, such as Notion or Craft, was run by ChatGPT. Simple as that. VirtualBrain is described as being a custom ChatGPT that feeds on your curated content.

Rick talks about NASA and Boeing, who joined forces to create the X-66A (so-named by the US Air Force). It will be built by Boeing and will focus on achieving net-zero emissions.

Show notes bonus …

Have you seen this video? It's by a guy who’s mastered his Insta360 Flow to create a genius stop motion short film. You watch the clip and your jaw will drop at what can be achieved simply by knowing your tools, having the imagination to dream big, and then applying effort. The filmmaker goes through the process of how he did it. It's good stuff!

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What is Apple’s Vision Pro wearable device?

Apple made a big announcement at its recent WWDC event: a new wearable product called Vision Pro. It’s not available to buy until 2024, but developers and competitors will probably spend the next few months falling over themselves to make stuff for it or compete against it.

Rick and Shaun discuss the announcement, including CEO Tim Cook’s excitable presentation and the return of the “one more thing” product reveal. One of the headline features is the device’s array of cameras. They all have different purposes, and part of the reason is that you don’t use physical controllers to operate Vision Pro. You use your eyes and your hands.

When you plan a holiday, do you research how to pay for things?

Do you think about how to pay things ahead of your next trip away? Shaun researches how to pay for travel. For instance, can you use contactless on a Japanese bullet train?

What about paying your restaurant bill?

Rick doesn’t give two hoots. He takes a wad of cash and keeps it down his sock 🧦

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