Every week, Supercharged tackles a complex—and sometimes unusual—question about technology, science, psychology, and human existence to find out how we can approach life better in our rapidly changing world.
0 Available Episodes (241 Total)Average duration: 01:12:39
Jun 06, 2020
243: Super Easy Pet Swapping (and Other New AI)
01:08:55
Tommy and Adam discuss the latest developments in artificial intelligence, include a massive leap forward in face swapping for pets and (the obviously less important) autonomous vehicle accident prevention. Also, watch out for ambient computing!
Jul 18, 2019
242: Dr. Computer
01:14:31
Tommy and Adam discuss how AI will help—and is already helping—the medical industry improve the diagnostic process and save lives.
Links for this episode:
Dr. BotThe clip from Space Station 76 that Tommy mentioned during this episode show.
MIT Uses AI to Predict Breast Cancer Up to 5 Years in AdvanceModern artificial intelligence employs complex algorithms to do all sorts of tasks in an instant, such as figuring out how a customer feels based on their review or identifying specific characteristics of an image. However, AI’s brightest moments come from the creative ways we employ these algorithms. People have used AI to generate new sports, turn doodles into realistic landscapes, and now MIT has found a way to detect breast cancer up to five years in advance using a deep-learning image classification model.
Jun 14, 2019
241: The Allure of Expertise
00:54:58
Tommy and Adam discuss the reasons behind the fascination with watching professionals do great work and what we actually gain from it.
Links for this episode:
my mechanicsThe restoration channel Tommy recommends.
Jun 09, 2019
240: It's Over 9000!
01:14:05
Tommy and Adam discuss Apple's decline into an overpriced garbage fire and the potential impact of Google's new math test for artificial intelligence.
Links for this episode:
Google Fed a Language Algorithm Math Equations. It Learned How to Solve New Ones.ExtremeTech (Adam Dachis): "Computers fail at even simple math more often than many of us realize and that flaw is rooted in the architecture of the machines themselves. Using machine learning, Google might have discovered a way to train computers to overcome their deficiencies."
Roundup: First-Look Impressions of the New Mac ProMacRumors: "At WWDC today, Apple unveiled its much-anticipated Mac Pro redesign, and following its keynote the company offered journalists some brief time with the machine – although admittedly nobody was allowed to use or even touch it."
Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2019 in Nine MinutesToday's Worldwide Developers Conference was easily one of the most exciting events we've had this year, with Apple introducing feature after feature over the course of a two and a half hour event.
Everything We Learned Today About Google StadiaKotaku: "The upcoming streaming platform Google Stadia won’t just follow the Netflix model, as many fans had hoped. It will instead have both a subscription and games for sale individually, as Kotaku previously reported. Here’s everything we learned today during Google’s “Stadia Connect” stream."
May 31, 2019
239: Social Media, Mental Health, and Farts
01:04:59
Tommy and Adam discuss Instagram's decision to test the removal of likes from posts in Canada as well as a new app that analyzes your farts.
Links for this episode:
Fartr"No one has ever attempted to capture, analyze and visualize your farts—until now." Available for iOS and Android.
Here’s why Instagram is going to hide your ‘likes’Hamza Shaban for the Washington Post: "Instagram will test hiding the number of likes and views that photos and videos receive — a central aspect of its platform — to rein in competitive tendencies and make the experience a little 'less pressurized.'"
May 28, 2019
238: Preparing for the Future: Part II
00:40:48
Tommy and Adam continue the previous week's conversion about preparing for future issues that new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and DNA sequencing/analysis will bring about.
May 16, 2019
237: Preparing for the Future: Part I
00:51:08
Tommy and Adam discuss an interesting law suit against Apple's alleged use of facial recognition technology, DNA security issues, and more reasons you need to be informed and prepared for rapidly evolving future technologies.
Links for this episode:
Teen sues Apple for $1 billion over store theft accusationsChain Store Age: "Apple faces a hefty lawsuit stemming from its facial recognition software identifying a suspected Apple Store shoplifter. In the suit filed in federal court in Manhattan, 18-year-old New York resident Ousmane Bah says he was falsely accused of thefts from Apple Store locations in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware."
GyroscopeA life-tracking app that can integrate several data sources like your raw DNA data from companies like 23andme.
UnshakyAn app to mitigate the problem of duplicate key presses on Apple's terrible butterfly keyboards.
Apr 25, 2019
235: Tech Monopolies: What Should We Do?
00:49:31
Tommy and Adam discuss the monopolies of the tech giants and the growing need to break them apart, stop future acquisitions, and restore true competition to the US market.
Links for this episode:
Here’s how we can break up Big TechElizabeth Warren: "Twenty-five years ago, Facebook, Google, and Amazon didn’t exist. Now they are among the most valuable and well-known companies in the world. It’s a great story—but also one that highlights why the government must break up monopolies and promote competitive markets."
warren-tech-companies.html" class="link">A Better Way to Break Up Big TechThe New York Times: "Among the techies who attended the annual South by Southwest Interactive conference the past few days, the hottest topic of conversation—besides the swarms of drunken idiots careening around Austin on rented electric scooters—was Senator Elizabeth Warren’s ground-shaking proposal to break up large tech companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook."
Apr 13, 2019
234: How to Create a Successful Kickstarter Campaign
01:07:50
Tommy and Adam talk to "Escape Room in a Box" creators Juliana Patel and Ariel Rubin about creating a successful Kickstarter campaign. They offer a lot of helpful advice to anyone who has ever wanted to crowdfund a game (or other project).
Tommy and Adam are joined by special guest Tina Amini (Editor in Chief of Games at IGN) to talk about what makes a video game great and how they successfully establish an emotional connection with the player.
The Writer Will Do Something"The year is 2012. You are the lead writer for the third game in the wildly popular ShatterGate™ franchise. Expectations are through the roof: fans of the series are waiting for the biggest, most bad-ass entry in the series yet, and your publisher is expecting the best-selling title in its history. But the game's development hasn't gone as smoothly as planned. One morning, just a couple months before E3 and six months before ship, an emergency meeting is called..."
Borderlands Is Getting Review Bombed On Steam Over Epic Store ExclusivityKotaku: "Yesterday, Gearbox announced that Borderlands 3 will be an Epic Games Store exclusive for six months after its September 13 release. Like clockwork, Steam users began review bombing previous games in the noted dabbing robot shooter series shortly after. Twenty-four hours and thousands of negative reviews later, Steam’s new anti-review bomb system has yet to defuse the problem."
Ubisoft In Trouble Over Comments About Female CharactersKotaku: "Shortly after Ubisoft upset many Assassin's Creed fans by saying that it had abandoned its plan to have female characters in its new game's co-op multiplayer mode, the company returned with another controversial explanation about the absence of women in its games—this one focused on Far Cry 4."
Unions Stole The Show At Last Night's GDC AwardsKotaku: "'I’m not anti-union, but I don’t really think we need them, right?' said Double Fine head Tim Schafer while hosting yesterday evening’s Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco. 'We’re all great here and in this show. No one here is union and...' Then the stage lights went out."