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What&#8217;s for Dinner?

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The Interactive Museum

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PCT Shop Culture Tech News and Stories - VMware News and Stories

Shop Culture Tech

PCT Shop Culture Tech News and Stories

From augmented reality to bot-powered websites, shoppers want awe-inspiring experiences. And loyalty is more than the logo. Now, it’s all about the #shopculturetech experience.

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Do you remember the first thing you bought online? For many of us, it was a textbook or a resold collector’s item from an online auction site. Fast forward to today—a mere 25 year journey—and there are two whole generations who couldn’t comprehend that before they were born, you couldn’t open an app and have something delivered in two days or less. Or even more recently, pull up to the curb and get it within 2 hours of your order.

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Online shopping is a way of modern life. And it’s now so common that the e-commerce market value exceeded $10 trillion in 2020, according to <a href="https://99firms.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics/#gref" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand View Research</a>. And over half of consumers use smartphones for shopping, according to a recent <a href="https://99firms.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics/#gref" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Statista</a> report.

These exceptional numbers are due in large part to the crazy world we lived in in 2020. But before we jump into the present day “shop culture tech” experience, let’s take a step back and dive into just how quickly we went from buying <em>only books</em> online to what<a href="https://www.vmware.com/solutions/industry/retail-it-services.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> retailers</a> now call omni-channel shopping experiences.

Looking back, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo! were digital retail pioneers, and “at the time, had a lot going for them,” explained Joseph Skorupa, <a href="https://risnews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RIS News</a> Editor at Large. “They were making money in different ways.”

Other retailers saw competitors’ success and recognized it was a trend they couldn’t ignore. Customers demanded efficiency, but no one had the infrastructure in place—the warehouses and logistics—that Amazon did, “so retailers had to catch up and it took them quite a while…but shoppers demanded it… They really drove the process,” Skorupa said.

Because there’s a lot of efficiency in shopping from home, retailers began to imagine scenarios that could optimally blend physical and online retail for the benefit of both customers and brands. Today, that connected, seamless experience is known as the omni-channel experience. And digital technology is key to its success.

Amid 2020’s shelter-in-place mandates, retailers had to pivot quickly to support social distancing and at-home shopping. They also had to scramble as customers surged into stores, cleared items off shelves (like toilet paper!) and put pressure on supply chains.

<a href="https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DICK’S Sporting Goods</a>, for example, saw a significant spike in demand for sports such as golf and tennis, as well as fitness. “We had to really figure out ways to provide that product to our customers and in a safe way,” explained Jason Williams, VP of Athlete Technology at DICK’S Sporting Goods.

“We often reference our contactless curbside pickup process as one of the big wins that we had during that time. We will deliver that service within 48 hours,” Williams said.

DICK’S Sporting Goods—which, at its roots, is customer-athlete obsessed—was among those most ready for the acceleration of online buying. Its digital foundation already enabled e-commerce and omni-channel experiences. Yet, the pandemic challenged the retailer’s offerings to become even more flexible and creative.

“What we built was based on a lot of services that we already had readily available with our pick-and-pack and real-time inventory processes in the stores for teammates,” Williams said. “We could tie them together and put a product out there quickly across multiple portfolios.”

He said the company’s contactless curbside pickup service was stood up quickly, but truly years in the making. And it really resonated with customers. So has its Scorecard loyalty program.

The retailer continues to invest in data science to understand its customer, “knowing what our customers buying trends are and what they're searching for online,” said Williams. “Our data strategy is really driven around real-time personalization.”

Another innovation the pandemic accelerated is robots. Leading U.S. retailers “recently began expanding robotic fleets by adding autonomous floor scrubbers to make their stores safer,” said Skorupa.

He believes autonomous processes, being handled by robots, is the next major trend. “And I see that really exploding in the next year or two. It will be mainstream, and every retailer will have robots in one form or another,” Skorupa concluded.

Blakely Thomas-Aguilar

From augmented reality to bots, shoppers want awe-inspiring experiences. Now, it’s all about the #shopculturetech retail experience.

From augmented reality to bots, shoppers want awe-inspiring experiences. And now, it’s all about the #shopculturetech experience.

Pop Culture Tech Podcast: Shop Culture Tech

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Pop Culture Tech Podcast 2.3: Shop Culture Tech

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As we journey through the digital era, explore how innovative museums and artists help us transcend the physical and journey into the virtual.

Digital Makeovers Keep Museum Audiences Engaged

Digital technology helps us transcend the physical and journey into the virtual—at work and at home. During COVID-19, it took us even further. Literally into works of art.

That’s been fortunate for museums as regular attendance plunged during the pandemic. The top 100 art museums were shut for an extra 145 days on average, adding up to a staggering 41,000 day in total, according to <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/visitor-figures-2020-top-100-art-museums">The Art Newspaper</a>. Institutions used to long lines and large-scale patron events had to pivot quickly to reimagine visitor experiences.

Staff from <a href="https://high.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">High Museum of Art</a> in Atlanta, for example, quickly went to work generating ideas to adapt programming for online audiences.

“We moved key programs like Conversation Pieces, a 30-minute interactive focus on one work of art, and developed others like Masterworks and Mindfulness to give people a different space to deal with what we're all living right now,” said Rand Suffolk, director of The High.

New digital programming and the staff’s increasing use of social channels kept the community together. The goal, Suffolk said, was to “encourage people to engage more deeply with the work.”

While museum experiences have clearly changed, so, too, has art expression. An amazing case in point: <a href="https://vangoghexhibit.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit</a>. It recently opened in Toronto, breaking what one of its producers called “the fourth wall.”

Attendees of this exhibit are “no longer visiting an art gallery where observation of the art is the piece as it was originally conceived—on the wall,” explained Corey Ross, co-founder and producer at Lighthouse Immersive.

The art is “immersive. It's around you—360 degrees. It's projected on every part of the room, on the floor and its projected on you. And when that happens, you have a totally different experience of the art,” he said.

Ross’ co-founder and co-producer, Svetlana Dvoretsky, experiences patrons’ emotions firsthand.

“When we observe people who come to our exhibit, we see a very wide range of emotions being expressed. Some people cry. Some people dance. Some people just lay down on the floor, in the meditative state,” she said. “I think it’s very interesting…the effect this kind of art makes. It’s not like it evokes a particular emotion. It depends on the state a person is in.”

There’s something else that makes the Van Gogh Exhibit unique and that’s how visitors access the experience. Due to limited capacity and social distancing guidelines, the producers created two options for attendees: walk-in and drive-thru.

“It such a success for us that we're opening versions in Chicago and San Francisco in (2021),” Ross said. “And hopefully there'll be more cities, as well. We've managed to pivot in an interesting way without diminishing the experience."

Listen to how interactive museums, like the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit, help us transcend the physical and journey into the virtual.

Listen now to learn how innovative museums and artists help us transcend the physical and journey into the virtual.

The Interactive Museum: Pop Culture Tech Podcast

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The Interactive Museum: Listen to Pop Culture Tech Podcast

In this podcast, explore how we’re blending our passion for cars with our passion for digital innovation.

People are passionate about cars. And auto manufacturers are shifting gears to electric and hybrid vehicles with even more automation, connectivity and comfort features.

The global automotive industry is expected to grow to just under nine trillion U.S. dollars by 2030, according to <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/574151/global-automotive-industry-revenue/">Statista</a>. New vehicle sales are anticipated to account for around 38% of this value.

Changing customer buying patterns and experience demands have automotive leaders and suppliers charting a new course. All in all, organizations are fast-forwarding digital innovation in cars.

Digital Powers Buying, Systems and Vehicle Changes

Six or seven years ago, Mercedes-Benz began seriously hiring tech talent. Today, that team is called Mercedes-Benz.io. And its people are passionate about translating input from customers into outputs of digital experiences.

Sophie Seiwald, CEO and managing director of Mercedes-Benz.io, describes the origins of one of the most popular sections on the company’s website: the online car configurator. It’s a way for people to see, customize and explore the brand’s vehicles.

“We combined talent from the business about products with our world of technology and customer inputs and were able to deliver different prototypes until we got to an extremely simplified car configurator,” Seiwald said. “We’re now able to extend the passion that people show for our brand by providing a luxurious and premium experience online.”

Suppliers are also navigating new digital frontiers. Sanjay Vishin, an expert in digital automotive platforms, talks about cars as computers on wheels. Today's teams have experts from a variety of backgrounds, such as software development and automotive engineering. And each focus on a variety of innovations, from infotainment systems to autonomous driving software.

Mercedes-Benz.io sees data as a digital accelerator. To overcome silos, Seiwald’s team began a journey to democratize data within the organization. The ultimate goal provides equal access for actionable insights.

Now, Mercedes-Benz.io data analysts actively work with engineers to design and implement innovations. Seiwald values “empowering all of our people—not just data engineers and data scientists—to deal with that data.” Ultimately, that's “critical to how we design our applications.”

For the people who say their favorite car is “the next one,“ there’s good news on the horizon. Vishin is excited about 5G and moving car connectivity beyond today’s link to the cloud.

“We’re also working on things where you connect...to an adjoining car,” Vishin explained. That opens up even more interesting applications—not only for cars, but also for smart cities.

All of the signals are green when it comes to driving innovation. There’s no doubt automotive innovators like Seiwald and Vishin are accelerating technology initiatives to make cars even smarter.

A practical invention is also a pop culture icon: the automobile. Listen to this new Pop Culture Tech episode.

What happens when you blend our passion for cars with our love of tech? Listen to this new episode, featuring Mercedes-Benz.io.

Cars Get Smart | Pop Culture Tech Podcast 2.1

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Cars Get Smart | Pop Culture Tech Podcast Season 2

Making (or ordering) a meal is now only a click away. But for online grocers and meal-kit businesses, it must be harder than that, right?

<h4>What’s In This Episode</h4>
<ul>
<li>The shared experience of food</li>
<li>Pivoting to online grocers and meal kits</li>
<li>Delivery services’ trifecta for success</li>
<li>Why exceptional digital experiences matter</li>
<li>Environmental impacts</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast Player</h4>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 26">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 27">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 29">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a><strong> </strong></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-22288" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Online-Grocery-Meal-Kits_Pop-Culture-Tech-Podcast_Guest-Lineup-1024x731.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="731" /></p>
<h4>Recipe for Success: Food, Purpose &#038; Technology</h4>
<p>Food is a universal, shared experience. Yet like work, school and other activities of daily life, the pandemic radically changed consumer buying behaviors and eating habits.</p>
<p>For many, more meal preparation at home comes with the anxiety of visiting traditional grocery stores. For others, it revealed new experiences and healthier options—only available online.</p>
<p>That’s been good news for online grocers, such as <a href="https://www.goodeggs.com/sfbay/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Good Eggs</a> and <a href="https://www.purplecarrot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Purple Carrot</a>. In the face of the global pandemic, great food, local suppliers and technology are proving a winning combination.</p>
<blockquote class="center">
<p>Nearly half of shoppers are buying more or started buying groceries online due to COVID-19.</p>
<p>—<a href="https://www.supermarketnews.com/online-retail/online-grocery-sales-grow-40-2020">Coresight Research</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h4>A New Model: Local Sourcing and Delivery</h4>


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<p>San Francisco-area organic grocery delivery company Good Eggs believes good food is the most powerful force for change.</p>
<p>That’s why the company spent nearly a decade simplifying a complex supply chain with modern technology. This purpose-plus-tech combination powers its warehouse, fulfillment center, buying processes and website. Today, it locally sources only the freshest products from thousands of growers within about a 300-mile radius. And it offers one of the best customer experiences online.</p>
<p>“Shopping experience matters, both pre-COVID and post-COVID. And it should be enjoyable,” says Bentley Hall, Good Eggs’ CEO. He doesn’t believe that age of traditional retail is over, but instead believes, “poor retail experiences will die.”</p>
<p>Understanding that some consumers are practical shoppers and others are true foodies, Good Eggs takes pride in making its shopping experience efficient, relaxing and enjoyable.</p>
<h4>Food for Thought</h4>
<p>Purple Carrot founder and CEO Andy Levitt sees online options as a powerful way to provide people with choice—especially in this time of uncertainty.</p>
<p>“When I think about the joy of cooking—and largely cooking plant-based foods—in a world where so much feels out of control, there is something really nice about controlling what you eat and having a level of control as you cook food for yourself, your family and those people you love.”</p>
<p>At its heart, Levitt describes his plant-based meal kit business as an e-commerce firm with an outstanding development team. The company is “constantly tweaking, evaluating and improving the site and building out new features, including doing testing to improve the flow.”</p>
<h4>Sustainability Concerns</h4>
<p>As organic and plant-based foods become keys to healthy lifestyles, these meal companies also recognize the need to reduce the environmental impact of field-to-table delivery. They provide recycling and upcycling tips, while reminding consumers about the benefits of plant-based choices.</p>
<p>“If you are going to use a meal kit,” says Levitt, advocating for Purple Carrot’s services, choosing a “plant-based diet is far more gentle on the environment than meals requiring a lot of meat or dairy.”</p>
<h4>Cooking Up Joy</h4>
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<p>Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people eat together.</p>
<p>—Food Network star Guy Fieri</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As consumer food shopping behavior continues to change, will more people make healthy and environmentally friendly choices? If yes, Good Eggs and Purple Carrot are just a click away.</p>
<p>After all, a great meal shared with family and friends can lead to joy and good health. And thanks to innovative <a href="https://news.vmware.com/redirect/pop-culture-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pop culture tech</a>, it also connects us to a community, grounds us in our planet and supports local economies.</p>


Making (or ordering!) a meal is only a click away. But for grocers and meal companies during COVID-19, it must be harder than that, right?

What's For Dinner? Listen to the Pop Culture Tech Podcast

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What's for Dinner? Listen to Pop Culture Tech Podcast #9

What's for Dinner? Listen to #PopCultureTech Podcast

You’ve heard of sneaker culture. You’ve heard about climate change and going green. But what happens when you put the two pop culture movements together—and add cool new technologies to the mix?

<h4></h4>
<h4>What’s In This Episode</h4>
<ul>
<li>Our growing obsession</li>
<li>Bringing <a href="https://news.vmware.com/sustainability/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sustainability</a> to footwear</li>
<li>Out-of-the-shoebox thinking</li>
<li>Designing the cycle</li>
<li>3D printing and foot-by-foot fitting</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast Player</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-21649" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PCT-1-8-Lineup_Sneaker-Culture-1024x731.jpg" alt="Podcast: Sneaker Culture Goes Green featuring The Footwearists and Vivobarefoot" width="1024" height="731"></p>
<h4>Sneaker Culture &#038; Sustainability: The Perfect Pair</h4>
<p>A few years ago, a traveling display called &#8220;The Rise of Sneaker Culture&#8221; displayed our rising obsession with sneakers—aka our kicks, trainers, tennis shoes. And although certain celebrity-endorsed pairs have high resale values, the reality is that most sneakers end up in a landfill.</p>
<p>Fortunately, experts are helping make our obsession with sneakers less of an impact on our planet. Their collective objective: create more sustainable footwear.</p>
<h4>Out-of-the-Shoebox Thinking</h4>
<p>Pollution is a byproduct of footwear manufacturing. As awareness rises, sustainability is quickly becoming a focus for shoe brands, big and small.</p>
<p>Nicoline van Enter, founder and creative director of <a href="https://www.footwearists.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Footwearists</a>, wonders how consumers would react if companies offered replacement parts, such as new soles, for expensive sneakers. Her work, she explains, is always about being “creative to increase longevity, to change different processes for recycling, to remake upcycling—to make it popular.”</p>
<blockquote class="center">
<p>The sneaker resale value market is projected to hit $6 billion by 2025.</p>
<p>— <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/sneaker-resale-could-be-a-dollar6-billion-market-by-2025-as-the-shoes-cement-their-place-among-the-most-popular-footwear-in-america/ar-AAF1u5u" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cohen &#038; Company</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>While some recycled sneakers do become playgrounds, it’s too difficult to fully sort the materials based on chemical composition, making them sub-optimal for maximum reuse.</p>
<h4>Designing the Cycle</h4>
<p>Getting on the right sustainability track requires more collaboration between footwear, waste companies and recycling companies, says van Enter. Why? There are currently no systems for grinding up, chemical recycling and biodegradation. So even if products were made of plants, they would likely still be thrown away or burned.</p>
<p>“I want to see more effort designing for footwear end of life—designing recycling, designing, compostability,” she says.</p>
<h4>3D Printing Foot by Foot?</h4>
<p>Our goal should be to “create products that help us connect more with nature or make us feel more human,” says Galahad Clarke, co-founder of <a href="https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us">Vivobarefoot</a>. The eco-friendly footwear brand focuses on building a sneaker culture that’s sustainable and good for your health.</p>
<p>His product philosophy is heavily influenced by leading eco-friendly thinkers Kate Fletcher and Sustain-ability by Design author John Aaronfield. Among his most interesting innovations to date is “bloom foam,” an algae regularly removed from waterways.</p>
<p>But that’s just the beginning, and technology powers innovation. “We have exciting journeys ahead of us with things like 3D printing, which will ultimately bring a more sustainable shoe industry,” he says. 3D printing is the key to making shoes foot by foot from local sustainable materials rather than pollution-heavy mass production.</p>


<p>As technology infiltrates our lives, our love of games has turned into pop culture and gamers are now pop culture icons.</p>

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What happens when you put two pop culture movements together—sneaker culture and sustainability - and add technology innovation like 3D printing?

What happens when you put two huge pop culture movements together—sneaker culture and sustainability—and add tech innovation?

Sneaker Culture Goes Green: Pop Culture Tech Podcast

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Sneaker Culture Goes Green: Pop Culture Tech Podcast #8

As technology infiltrates our lives, our love of games turned into pop culture and gamers have turned into pop culture icons.

<h4></h4>
<h4>What’s In This Episode:</h4>
<ul>
<li>The supercharged marketplace</li>
<li>An innovation mindset</li>
<li>Emerging technology adoption</li>
<li>Gaming as a physical community builder</li>
<li>Future gazing</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast Player</h4>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 29">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<h2><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-21451 size-large" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pop-Culture-Tech-RADIUS-Guest-Lineup-5-1024x731.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="731"></h2>
<h4>Our Love of Games — and Gaming</h4>
<p>Human minds are wired for engagement and competition. We want to learn. We want to win. And, we want to have fun while we’re doing both.</p>
<p>Our genetics are a perfect match for the gaming industry. That’s probably why the marketplace has experienced such hyper-<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinanderton/2019/06/26/the-business-of-video-games-market-share-for-gaming-platforms-in-2019-infographic/#f3e676d7b254">growth</a>.</p>
<p>The video game industry is the most influential form of entertainment in America, says the <a href="https://www.theesa.com/press-releases/u-s-video-game-sales-reach-record-breaking-43-4-billion-in-2018/">Entertainment Software Association</a>. As players keep coming—<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-game-industry-120-billion-future-innovation-2019-9">Microsoft</a> reports more than two billion gamers around the world—developers keep coding.</p>
<h4>Staying Edgy</h4>
<p>“It’s the combination of artistic, technical and business creativity that keep things moving at a really rapid pace,” explains Lou Fasulo, formerly of Z2 (<em>Trade Nations</em> and <em>MetalStorm</em>) and now co-founder and CEO at gaming startup <a href="https://starform.co/">Starform</a>.</p>
<p>But for game developers enjoying success beyond their wildest dreams, creating the next big game is more challenging.</p>
<p>Fasulo believes companies with a game that becomes a cultural phenomenon are most at risk of “becoming caretakers of great intellectual property (IP)” rather than risk takers.</p>


core/pullquote

<p>From consoles to connectivity, opportunities to enhance play for anyone, anytime, anywhere drive development decisions. Technologies such as mobile devices and the cloud transformed traditional approaches into “modern live operations,” explains Fasulo, “all of that makes the gaming ecosystem just feel more alive.”</p>
<p>Gamers aren’t shy about pushing the bleeding edge of tech innovation. Former Googler and now founder and CEO of <a href="https://nianticlabs.com/">Niantic Games</a>, John Hanke, was among the first out with a widely successful augmented reality game. Its title: <a href="https://www.pokemongo.com/en-us/">Pokemon Go</a>.</p>
<p>What started as a field trip application about discovery quickly evolved. Soon after, it went viral with gamers. “We saw people socially really coming together to play the game, forming groups around the world and exercising. People were using the app sort of as a motivation to exercise,” explains Hanke.</p>
<p>He credits accessibility and the game’s friendliness to its tremendous popularity. And he’s proud of the way Pokemon Go brings people together from different walks of life–in person. The game is “a way for people that live in the same city to meet and to get to know one another, ” he says.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="20 Questions with Niantic CEO John Hanke" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rX7fZ14YB08?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h4>The Future of Gaming</h4>
<p>Will the next frontier for gaming be less immersive? And as traditional television viewership declines, will gaming win the household living room? Stay tuned. Evolving hardware and software partnerships will provide answers soon enough.</p>
<p>In the meantime, there’s little doubt gaming boosts humans’ shared digital experiences. Friendships are forming, and teams of existing communities are moving—as groups—to explore new games together.  And that’s all good for humans and great for the gaming industry.</p>


<p>Some say love and technology are made for each other. For 3.0 dating and relationship apps, they might be right.</p>

Listen to the newest Pop Culture Tech podcast to hear how technology's turned our love for video games into pop culture.

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Game Over. Play Again? - VMware News and Stories

Some say love and technology are made for each other. With today’s 3.0 dating apps, they might be right. In this episode, we explore our modern world’s digital quest for love – in all its forms.

<h4>What’s In This Episode:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Love and technology have a history</li>
<li>Dating apps—then and now</li>
<li>New approaches to finding love online</li>
<li>Making human connections</li>
<li>Knowing ourselves</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast App</h4>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 27">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 29">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21291" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Goes-Digital_Pop-Culture-Tech_Episode-Guests.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1000" srcset="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Goes-Digital_Pop-Culture-Tech_Episode-Guests.jpg 1400w, https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Goes-Digital_Pop-Culture-Tech_Episode-Guests.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Goes-Digital_Pop-Culture-Tech_Episode-Guests.jpg?resize=768,549 768w, https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Goes-Digital_Pop-Culture-Tech_Episode-Guests.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" /></p>
<h4>Love Is in the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Air</span> App</h4>
<p>Some might say love and technology are made for each other.</p>
<p>Personal ads appeared soon after the first printing press made newspapers possible. Even the mainframe was in on the action before mobility. Today, the love-tech connection seems to grow stronger with each digital innovation.</p>
<h4>Dating Goes Digital</h4>
<p>Before the advent of dating apps as we know them, internet “chat rooms were a place for social discovery,” according to Adam Cohen-Aslatei, CEO and founder of <a href="https://www.smoredate.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">S’More Date</a>. “People with common interests would converse and their conversations were often quite vibrant. People were getting married.”</p>
<p>Entrepreneurs noticed. People were already using AOL and Craigslist to exchange things. Why not use the internet to find a partner?</p>
<p>The first dating websites were built for baby boomers to connect with others looking for second-time-around love. They preferred descriptions of themselves (aka: profiles) over uploading photos. Smartphones forever changed that, propelling dating into future generations’ on-demand world.</p>
<blockquote class="center">
<p>The global online dating services market is projected to reach 9 billion dollars by 2025.</p>
<p>—<a href="https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/online-dating-services-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Allied Market Research</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>“The first generation of apps on the iPhone were all based on location,” says Cohen-Aslatei. They became shortcuts to meeting people in close proximity. Newer 2.0 apps were created as brands targeted specific demographics. “Now version 3.0, in 2020,” he says, “is splitting the category in two.” Some are for casual encounters. Others for slow dating.</p>
<h4>Two Tech Paths. One Destination.</h4>
<p>With only half of the Millennial generation in relationships or married, mindsets are changing. And dating app development is, too, with companies like S’More rewriting the rules.</p>
<p>“The more you engage, interact and chat with someone, the more their photos unblur and their private and visual content unlocks,” Cohen-Aslatei says, explaining his app’s differentiation.</p>
<p>The goal, he explains, is to give people a shot at love by helping them get to know each other before being judged. And this happens by combining connections, algorithms and verifications. At the same time, these digital capabilities also work harder to solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges, from catfishing to inappropriate image sharing.</p>
<h4>Getting Personal</h4>
<p>Dating requires someone to take action, and that’s traditionally been men.</p>
<p>The benefit of online dating for women is that it puts you in “driver&#8217;s seat of your dating life,” explains Anna Menniti, Integral Counseling Psychology Masters student at California Institute of Integral Studies. And people who use a dating app are typically ready for a relationship, looking for others also ready for a relationship.</p>
<p>But relationship apps don’t have to just be for love connections. They can facilitate any connection. For example, putting two people together who enjoy the same activities, culture, or foods. Thinking about dating apps in this way may help individuals who never would have crossed paths come together in mutual love of something other than themselves.</p>
<p>Menniti cautions those looking for love online that it’s a search process. And individuals have to take responsibility for themselves. “Time and time again, when I&#8217;ve seen true love, they&#8217;ve really done some hard work on themselves, finding internal acceptance and love.” That, she says, changes the whole view of what people look for outside.</p>
<p>So, whether you’re searching for romantic love or mutual affinity, your best tool may already be in your pocket—a smartphone with a dating app that meets your preferences.</p>
<p><em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a class="local-link" href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 40"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p> </p>


Some say love and technology are made for each other. For 3.0 dating and relationship apps, they might be right. Listen to the Pop Culture Tech podcast.

Love Is in the Digital Air | Pop Culture Tech Podcast #6

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In our digital world, strangers helping strangers takes on a whole new meaning. Behind the scenes, tech innovation fuels charitable giving and real-world missions.

<h4>What’s In This Episode:</h4>
<ul>
<li>Giving goes viral</li>
<li>Technology and community building</li>
<li>Empowering civil society</li>
<li>Resource gaps and service learning</li>
<li>Tech for good that changes lives</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast App</h4>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 29">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<h4><strong> <img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-21011 size-large" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Pop-Culture-Tech-Podcast_Giving-Episode-Guests-1024x731.jpg" alt="Hear how to tech for good is transforming charitable giving and service learning. Pop Culture Tech podcast #5: The Spirit of Giving" width="1024" height="731" /></strong></h4>
<h4>The Gift that Keeps Giving</h4>
<p>Gift giving has long been part of the human experience. Only recently has it gone viral.</p>
<p>From crowd-funding platforms to social media campaigns, technology and giving are now powerful partners. Today, more than half (55 percent) of people who engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking some sort of action, according to <a href="https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nonprofits Source</a>.</p>
<p>Behind the scenes, massive collections of tech innovations are fueling not only charitable moments, but also real-world missions.</p>
<blockquote class="right">
<p><a href="https://www.givingtuesday.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Giving Tuesday</a> 2019 raised $1.97 billion dollars online and offline. More than $500 million was raised online in the U.S.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4>Connecting Communities</h4>
<p><a href="https://news.vmware.com/ronmental/techsoup-nonprofit-digital-transformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TechSoup</a>&#8216;s mission is to improve lives and build a better world through the use of technology. The organization partners with 70 of the world&#8217;s leading civil society organizations. Together, the TechSoup Global Network has supported nearly 1.1 million organizations across the globe.</p>
<p>TechSoup’s Caravan Studios focuses on building custom tech solutions for community organizations, from developing software for domestic violence shelters to an app for hungry school kids.</p>
<p>“We work with communities. People that care about and have a common purpose, usually in a geographic area,” explains Marnie Webb, chief community impact officer at Tech Soup. “We bring them together to generate opportunities for tech intervention. We design big and small interventions, test them, and actually build, deploy and support the features that will have the greatest impact.”</p>
<p>Here’s an example. Caravan Studios developed a free app called <a href="https://www.techsoup.org/caravan-studios" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Range</a> that identifies locations serving free summer meals for school kids. This can be a game-changer for millions of hungry youth who face going without meals when school’s out of session.</p>
<p>Apps like these are wins for civil society, which Marnie explains are both formal and informal efforts to bring people together to do positive work in their community.<strong> </strong></p>


<h4>In the Service of Others</h4>
<p>Innovative technology use also helps ensure nonprofits and social-good organizations get access to the support they need through pro bono service. That’s the goal of the <a href="https://taprootfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Taproot Foundation</a>. The non-profit’s  mission is to nourish social change organizations by connecting them with the expertise and insights of skilled volunteers.</p>
<p>“Folks typically think of pro bono service as pro bono legal work, which is incredibly important, but already has a lot of avenues for support within the nonprofit sector,” explains Lindsay Firestone Gruber, Taproot Foundation president and CEO. “But nonprofit organizations also have a critical need for effective HR, IT, marketing and other staff to achieve their missions.”</p>
<p>Since its 2001 founding, the foundation’s infused more than $200 million worth of pro bono support directly into the nonprofit sector. That’s 1.7-plus million hours of pro bono consultation serving upwards of 8,000 nonprofit organizations across more than 13,000 engagements.</p>


<h4>Pairing Volunteers and Tech for Good</h4>
<p>While giving charities a tremendous boost, pro bono engagement also rewards the professional giving back. Volunteering actually hones skills. And this new benefit—called service learning—is growing as a corporate giving trend.</p>
<p>“We&#8217;ve seen a very heavily increasing recognition that participation and pro bono service is an incredible experiential learning opportunity,” Lindsay says, before providing an example. <a href="https://taprootfoundation.org/haiti-now-changing-communities-through-donated-time-and-kindness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Haiti Now</a>, she explains, is focused on ending child servitude through the power of education. Founded in 2010, “…it remains entirely volunteer run, making use of pro bono support to fuel its critical work and expand capacity.”</p>
<p>Interested in service learning? Have mad tech skills? #GivingTuesday—the <a href="https://www.givingtuesday.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">global generosity movement</a>—may be over this year. But it’s never too late to get involved in working for the greater good. And tech can help you get started.</p>
<p><em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a class="local-link" href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>


Tis the season of giving. And technology is helping change our world for good. Listen to episode 5 of the Pop Culture Tech podcast.

Pop Culture Tech Podcast: The Spirit of Giving | Listen Now

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An artist and her robots. A Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and her immersive exhibition. Listen to what happens when art meets tech.

<h4>What’s In This Episode</h4>
<ul>
<li>Artistry and tech experimentation</li>
<li>Robot and artist collaboration</li>
<li>A Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist</li>
<li>Art and technology as catalysts for change</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast App</h4>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 29">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><strong> <img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20928" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Art-Meets-Tech_Pop-Culture-Tech_Featured-Speakers-1024x731.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="731" /></strong></p>
<h4>Digital Innovation Advances Human Expression</h4>
<p>Art is about discovery. It’s honing creative problem-solving and sparking the imagination. Combined with its analytical brethren, technology, it’s freedom to develop, innovate and experiment.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://sougwen.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sougwen Chung</a> began collaborating with machines, her drawing operations unit—a.k.a. DOUG—changed the potential of her practice. “I learned that there&#8217;s a lot of beauty in letting go of control&#8230;and [that’s] one of the takeaways from working with machines that I never really expected,” she says.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="20 Questions with Artist Sougwen Chung" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/amp0hisbhXY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h4>Robots as Art</h4>
<p>Four generations of experimentation later, DOUG evolved as a collaborator leveraging AI algorithmic functions, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Mimicry, where a robotic arm mimics the artist’s movements in a real-time performance.</li>
<li>A recurrent neural network trained on a model of the artist’s own drawings to create a gestures feedback loop between her and a robotic arm.</li>
<li>A multi-robotic system linked to the flow of the city through computer vision algorithms.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the latest incarnation, AI helps transpose moving traffic, “this organic feel of New York City, like the flow of water into a space of a canvas,” Chung says. It was an “a-ha moment.” Something that felt different from anything she’d ever done.</p>
<p>As Chung designs more and more of her own robotic forms, she is starting to see them as art works in and of themselves.</p>
<h4>A Catalyst for Change</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.reneecbyer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Renée C. Byer</a>, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, believes “modern technology helps you bridge the gap if you&#8217;re feeling really empathetic about the visual.” A documentary photographer, she turns pictures into immersive experiences.</p>
<p>Her work is focused on social issues that inform the public of important environmental and social issues, a chronicling of events in history or even everyday life.</p>
<p>“For me,” she explains, “It&#8217;s all about the human condition and translating other people&#8217;s lives through photography so that they can have a deeper understanding and compassion, and maybe, the ability to act and facilitate change.”</p>
<h4>Talented Creators and Powerful Creations</h4>
<p>Among Byer’s famous works is “<a href="http://www.reneecbyer.com/exhibit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Living on a Dollar a Day</a>,” a project that began when the United Nations Millennium Goals were up for review. The internationally acclaimed book and interactive exhibit detail stories of survival in the face of extreme poverty.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Living on a Dollar a Day: The Documentary" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eChk7walKiA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>When people get emotionally invested in Byer&#8217;s photographs, technology helps them make a deeper connection and take immediate action in specific ways. An app enables exhibition visitors to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Listen to Byer talking about the images’ situations.</li>
<li>Scan a bar code using a mobile device to access additional resources and become more educated about the topic.</li>
<li>Act in some way, including making an online pledge or donation to the cause.</li>
</ul>
<p>“Technology and photography,” she says, “It’s a big game changer.”</p>
<p><em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>


Featuring artist and researcher Sougwen Chung and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Renée C. Byer.

Art Meets Tech: Pop Culture Tech Podcast

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Pop Culture Tech Podcast 1.4: Art Meets Tech

Dangerous pollution levels in our oceans and waterways are reaching a point of no return worldwide. Could robots be the answer?

The numbers are staggering. People have produced about <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/world/countries-most-plastic-waste-14878534">eight billion tons</a> of plastic since 1950. Quickly, they’ve drifted into the world’s waterways — creeks and streams, rivers and oceans. Today, 165 million tons of plastic are estimated to be in the ocean.

By 2050, plastics in the ocean are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-in-ocean-outweighs-fish-evidence-report-2017-1">expected</a> to outweigh fish. That reality has eco-scientists focused on innovative intervention to keep global bodies of water and the food supply healthy.

“The rivers are a public trust, so they're kind of everyone's responsibility at the same time,” says Nick Wesley, director of <a href="https://www.urbanriv.org/">Urban Rivers</a>, a non-profit rethinking the way people use rivers in cities.

Based in Chicago, the organization built a floating garden to help clean the Chicago River. However, once they established the habitat, regularly cleaning the garden of trash was a challenge. A conversation about nurdles, or tiny pieces of plastic, and a robotic turtle to remove them led to the development of a prototype floating robot to remove trash from the river.

Soon, the organization’s crowd-sourced Trashbot is hoping to make cleaning the river from anywhere a fun, interactive experience for everyone.

Clear Blue Sea is also on a mission to take plastics out of the water. But its eye is on the ocean, more specifically on the garbage collected in the Pacific Gyres — about the size of Texas.

“Plastic never biodegrades, dissolves or anything,” says Susan Baer, executive director and founder of the nonprofit. “All it can do in that harsh climate is break into smaller and smaller pieces.”

She explains that creatures in the ocean ingest small pieces of plastic. Then bigger fish eat those fish, and the cycle continues. When we consume ocean catch for dinner (and from other sources, as well), “we likely have microplastics in our human systems.”

Clear Blue Sea believes robots can help reduce ocean waste. Its innovation, FRED (short for Floating Robot For Eliminating Debris) is sustainable, marine mammal friendly and more reliable out than previous efforts. FRED “was invented as an intersection of technologies that already exist,” says Clear Blue Sea project engineer Jessica Gottdank.

Her team is innovating with solar panels, renewable energies, data communications and other technologies, <strong>“</strong>…putting them together to address the problem of floating plastics.”

These grassroots agencies are both sounding the alarm and introducing technological solutions into the battle for a sustainable future. Yet more can be done.

“It's extraordinarily important to find other groups and other individuals and agencies that want to contribute to the betterment of our rivers,” says Wesley. “Their work can make a real difference in our ecosystem.”

<em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a class="local-link" href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em>

Dangerous pollution levels in our oceans and waterways are reaching a point of no return worldwide. Could robots come to the rescue?

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Will This Robot Save Our Oceans? | Pop Culture Tech Podcast

Is the gym a place you go – or is it, thanks to game-changing fitness technology, become less about a place and more about connected experiences?

<h4>In This Episode:</h4>
<ul>
<li>The evolution of fitness</li>
<li>Uniting passions for health and technology</li>
<li>Digital training experiences</li>
<li>Exercise innovation fueled by AI, algorithms and automation</li>
<li>The elevation of interactions</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast App</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20178" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Fitness-Technology-Experts_Pop-Culture-Tech_VMware-RADIUS-1024x731.jpg" alt="Aly Orady, CEO of Tonals, joins Blakely Thomas-Aguilar in Pop Culture Tech Podcast episode two on fitness technology and trends." width="1024" height="731" /></p>
<h4>Journey to Healthier — Fitness Beyond the Gym</h4>
<p>Just thinking about exercise makes some people sweat. But that was before — when staying fit required you to go to a gym, purchase a stack of VHS tapes or fit a Zumba class into an already busy schedule.</p>
<p>Today, thanks to digital technologies, the world of fitness is more personal and accessible. Devices at home and wearables on our wrists make becoming healthier part of our everyday lives. Smartphone apps track our heartbeats and steps. They measure our runs and bike rides. They even monitor some of our medical conditions, like cholesterol or diabetes.</p>
<p>Because it’s always close by, fitness technology is making us smarter about our choices and helping us track our progress. And now with digital platforms available nearly everywhere, we can up our fitness game — choosing new connected experiences, built by engineering experts, to become faster, stronger and more in control of our own health destiny.</p>
<h4>Uniting Passions for Health and Technology</h4>
<p>“There was a journey and a moment,” recalls Aly Orady, founder and CEO of Tonal, describing his path to merging technology and fitness.</p>
<p>He was sitting on gym bench after having lost 70 pounds and realized that as an engineer working busy hours in Silicon Valley, there wouldn’t be time for 6 a.m. gym visit.</p>
<p>“So I really wanted to find a way to be able to work out at home, but didn’t know how the giant strength training machine I was staring at was going to get into my apartment,” he says. The light bulb went off. “If I could create something that ran on electricity, I could probably shrink it down.”</p>
<p>He did, designing the first digital weight engine that relied on electricity and electromagnetics to produce force.</p>
<h4>Exercise Innovation Fueled by AI, Algorithms and Automation</h4>
<p>According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportclub Association, the $30 billion health and fitness industry in the U.S. has been steadily growing 3-4 percent per year for the last 10 years.</p>
<p>Software innovation boosts participation. There are hundreds of health and fitness apps available.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20179" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Fitness-Tracker-Market-Stat_VMware-RADIUS-1024x630.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="630" /></p>
<p>Wearables forever changed the way people think about exercise and engagement. And now artificial intelligence (AI) is taking personalization to the next level — analyzing what you&#8217;re doing and making decisions about what to do and when. Coupled with automation and algorithms, the possibilities to improve health outcomes seem endless.</p>
<h4>The Elevation of Interactions</h4>
<p>Greater personalization is also poised to change traditional fitness roles, says Orady. “The days of a personal trainer standing next to someone counting their reps for them probably aren&#8217;t going to last forever.”</p>
<p>He believes that traditional fitness experts need to elevate the way they interact with customers. They’ll need to give them even more personalized experiences, check in with them regularly, provide nutrition advice, answer questions and more. And combining technologies like Tonal with the expertise of fitness trainers everywhere may be just the motivation we need to get started or keep moving on our journeys to healthier.</p>
<p><em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a class="local-link" href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" name="&#038;lpos=apps_scodevmw : 28"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>


Is the gym a place you go – or is it, thanks to game-changing fitness technology, more about connected experiences? Listen to the podcast.

Is the gym a place you go – or does it, thanks to game-changing fitness technology, become all about the connected experience?

Is the Gym Dead? Pop Culture Tech Podcast

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Fitness Technology | Is the Gym Dead? | Pop Culture Tech Podcast

Think the weather’s not pop culture? Think again. Check out the revolutionary technology turning our favorite conversational icebreaker into a pop culture tech phenomenon.

<h4>In This Episode:</h4>
<ul>
<li>The world’s long-running ice breaker</li>
<li>A multibillion-dollar industry</li>
<li>Personalization of weather forecasting</li>
<li>Innovation fueled by AI, IoT and supercomputing</li>
<li>Global impact of weather and technology</li>
</ul>
<h4>Listen In Your Favorite Podcast App</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-tech-podcast/id1478163480" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iylp6irog4vdpn2rcqxlh5hb57i?t%3DPop_Culture_Tech_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Podcasts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-culture-tech-podcast-49070049/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iHeart Podcast Network</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.soundcloud.com/pop-culture-tech-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6MfWYc7aNuU7U3VG5glVAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Spotify</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=458687&#038;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stitcher</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Featuring (In Order of Appearance)</h4>
<p><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-20192" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Weather-Technology-Experts_Pop-Culture-Tech-Episode-1-1-1024x731.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="731" /></p>
<h4>The Only Certainties in Life: Death, Taxes and Weather</h4>
<p>Imagine what happened when the very first strangers met, back before smartphones, before cities, before the wheel. What could these two people ever hope to talk about? I imagine that it’s the same conversation that happens between strangers in our modern world. In fact, it’s our favorite conversation starter to this very day. It’s the weather.</p>
<p>The saying goes that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. But you could argue that it’s actually death, taxes and weather. The weather is perhaps one of the only universal things we all have in common.</p>
<p>With the impact on our lives—every day for every single person on our planet—it’s no wonder that Weather continues to be perhaps the longest running cultural conversation of our race’s existence.</p>
<h4>What’s the Weather Like in Boston Today?</h4>
<p>“When I got up in the morning today … I was almost tempted, as I have done my entire life to ask my favorite weather companion, ‘What&#8217;s the weather going to be like in Boston today?’ But that&#8217;s not really what I wanted to ask, right?” says Yuval Gonczarowski, chief technology officer at <a href="https://www.climacell.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climacell</a>.</p>
<p><em>“What I wanted to ask is: ’What is the weather going to be like between the street that I live in Cambridge and the route that I take to commute to Boston, between 7:30 and 7:55.’”</em></p>
<p>Unlike the shamans from hundreds of years ago, weather prediction isn’t magic. It’s a science. But it’s also a business.<a href="https://www-stage.news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Weather-forecasting-systems-and-solutions-market-size.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-20166 size-large" src="https://news-editor.vmware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Weather-forecasting-systems-and-solutions-market-size-1024x630.jpg" alt="The global weather forecasting systems and solutions market size is expected to reach $4.63 billion by 2025. Source: Grand View Research, Inc." width="1024" height="630" /></a>This market is fueled by technology, from the sensors on cell phone towers and at airports, on ocean banks and satellites orbiting our world.</p>
<p>Yet like so many industries today, the real foundation behind weather forecasting and predictions is less about the hardware—the sensors or the satellites. It’s about software and code. And just as future technologies impact so many other industries, recent advancements are fueled by artificial intelligence.</p>
<h4>AI, IoT, Supercomputers and the Weather</h4>
<p>The technology innovation halo advances nearly every field, weather forecasting included. Three of the hottest tech trends are no exception: <a href="https://news.vmware.com/artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">artificial intelligence</a> (AI), internet of things (IoT) and lightning fast computing.</p>
<p>The magic happens when weather scientists and tech experts come together, as is the case with Amy McGovern, University of Oklahoma computer science and meteorology expert.</p>
<p>“Artificial intelligence and machine learning, they&#8217;re related to each other,” says Amy McGovern, University of Oklahoma computer science and meteorology professor. “I use artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to improve the prediction of the severe weather.”</p>
<p><em>The Pop Culture Tech podcast is brought to you by VMware, the software that connects, automates and secures the world’s digital infrastructure. Learn more at </em><a href="https://www.vmware.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VMware.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>


In episode #2 of the Pop Culture Tech podcast, explore the revolutionary technology behind our favorite ice breaker: the weather.

Explore the amazing technology that's changing the industry behind our favorite conversational ice breaker: the weather.

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