INIT
Conversations with the inventors of our shared future
About the show
Technology is shifting from engaging just your eyes and ears to engaging your entire body. Immersive technology and next-generation wireless networks, sometimes collectively called the Tactile Internet, will shift the fundamental relationship between humans and the technologies we invent. The transition of cyberspace from being virtual to being a physical place you can visit with all your senses is the biggest deal since... maybe since ever. Let's talk about it!
INIT is a different type of tech podcast. We get geeky, but we keep track of the human story. More than anything, INIT is about people – the people behind the tech, why they do what they do, and their vision of the future. We've all heard the adage, "the best way to predict the future is to invent it." INIT brings you conversations with the inventors of our shared future.
Episodes
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Sensory History
23 June 2020 | 51 mins 45 secs
covid-19, sensory history
Mark Smith is Carolina Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Topics discussed in this episode include historical reenactment, immersive technology applied to historical studies, and the sensory revolution brought about by the global pandemic.
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Design for the Sense of Touch
3 June 2020 | 38 mins 34 secs
ai, game design, ux
Oliver Schneider is an Assistant Professor, HCI researcher, and haptician at the University of Waterloo. Discussion topics include juicy design, measuring the haptic user experience, standardization, tools, virtual humans, and the impact of the pandemic and tactile internet technology on the future of work.
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The Art of Haptics
11 May 2020 | 42 mins 9 secs
ableton live, covid-19, not impossible
Daniel Belquer is an award winning composer and intermedia artist. Discussion topics include the use of haptics in live events and concerts, creative tools for tactile art, the state of wearable devices, therapeutic haptics, and COVID-19 and what it means for the tactile internet.
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Touchy Subjects
27 February 2020 | 47 mins 2 secs
accounting, mars, phones, plumbing, sex tech, television
Robby Hoffman is an award-winning stand-up comedian and writer. Discussion topics include sex tech, television, haptics in mobile phones, plumbing, VR, and Mars settlement. This episode contains explicit content.
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Tactile Telepresence
2 February 2020 | 1 hr 9 mins
gesture, latency, perception, space, telerobotics, xprize
Jeremy Fishel is a roboticist and haptician, founder of Tangible Research, and co-founder and former CTO of SynTouch. In this episode, Dave talks with Jeremy about the new device he helped create, the Tactile Telerobot, which lets you manipulate robotic hands and feel what they feel. Other discussion topics include modes of human touch, evolution of tactile senses, biomimicry, the tactile internet, tactile versus visual AI, and the ANA Avatar XPrize.
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The Mood Button
3 January 2020 | 1 hr 15 mins
biofeedback, cannabis, cbt, lsd, mdma, meditation, ptsd, therapy, vibration
Dr. David Rabin MD, Ph.D is a board-certified psychiatrist and translational neuroscientist. He's the Chief Innovation Officer, co-founder, and co-inventor at Apollo Neuroscience. Discussion topics include new treatments for chronic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, biofeedback, and interventions based on tactile stimulation.
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Panel – Insider Perspectives on Immersive Tech Trends
13 December 2019 | 56 mins 11 secs
Dave moderates a panel discussion about current trends in the technology and business of immersive media. Panelists are Samantha Gorman, Co-Founder and director at Tenderclaws, David Brady, CEO and Co-Founder of Cream Productions, David Gull, CEO and Founder of Outer Realm, Rene Amador, CEO of ARWall, and Mark Rickard, Founder and Executive Producer at Virtuality. This discussion occurred on November 12th, 2019, at the Digital Hollywood conference in Los Angeles.
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Panel – Space Innovation with Extended Reality
6 December 2019 | 48 mins 13 secs
digital hollywood, panel
Dave moderates a panel discussion about the use of VR, AR, and XR in space exploration and education. Panelists are Rob Ray, Senior Designer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Dr. Susan Jewell, founder of Mars Academy USA and avatarMEDIC. This discussion occurred on November 12th, 2019, at the Digital Hollywood conference in Los Angeles.
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Current Issues in Haptic Interaction Design
1 December 2019 | 53 mins 28 secs
design tools, ethics, music
Dr. Marcello Giordano is a research scientist at Chatham Labs. He has a background in HCI, music, and haptics, and previously worked at Huawei and Ultrahaptics (now Ultraleap). Discussion topics include haptic musical interfaces, metronomes and synchronization of performance groups, contrasts in experience working for small and large companies, mixed reality, ungrounded and mid-air haptics, robot and haptic ethics, and human enhancement.
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Ghost in the Interface
28 November 2019 | 34 mins 20 secs
ai, neural implants, sensory substitution
Laura Buecheler is the CEO and Co-founder of GHOST-feel it GmbH, a Berlin-based startup focusing on haptic user interfaces. Topics of discussion in this episode include product design trends, smart prosthetics, AI, sensory substitution, and neural implants.
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Evolution of Touch Technology
11 November 2019 | 1 hr 29 mins
Dr. David Parisi is a professor specializing in emerging media. In this episode, we talk about his new book, Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing, which traces the iterative development of haptics across four centuries.
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Cool Heat
8 November 2019 | 1 hr 9 mins
Inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Matthew Smith created the first wearable personal thermostat. In this show, he relates his experience starting his company, lessons learned from customers, the science of how we feel temperature and its profound impact on our subjective experiences.
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The Signal and the Noise
6 November 2019 | 1 hr 5 mins
Dr. Carolina Brum is an HCI expert with a background in music, gesture acquisition and signal processing. As part of Google's ATAP team, she helped create the radar-based gesture input feature for the Pixel 4. Topics of discussion include sensor fusion, AI, digital privacy, and cultural conventions for interpersonal touch.
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Introducing INIT
6 November 2019 | 11 mins 21 secs
INIT is a show about technology, humanity, and the inventors of our collective future. In this short introductory episode, Dave talks about the idea behind the show and what you can expect to hear in future episodes.