STG podcast (Science, Technology, Gaming and Other Stuff)

We finally got to play the new VR Half Life game after 13 years of wait and it was so much more that we expected. In this episode we discuss about VR and how the game fits in the VR landscape as well as the game itself.

There are spoilers of the story (but not the ending, we managed to avoid that) so if you are a fan of the series get a VR setup and play this game!

In this episode we are finally starting the Microfabrication series, sorry that took so long to get this done.

In the introduction we are trying to define what Microfabrication is, where and why we need to use it and the concept of miniaturization. We also explain the fundamental building block needed for the basic fabrication that will then be expanded one by one in dedicated episodes.

If you are interested in knowing how the semiconductor industry woks and how the electronics that we all use everyday is made keep following us! We hope to continue this series without many breaks in between episodes.

In this episode I'm discussing with Jaan Praks about the many satellites that are being built in Aalto University and in general about space science. The discussion is really interesting starting from the student projects to space technology in general and some reflection on the status of startups in the space industry.

Let us know what you think of the VR technology and which are your favorite games if you are already into it!

In this episode we are discussing our first impression of VR and some games we tried. I recently got a Windows mixed reality headset while Nicola has had a Valve Index for a while so we are also discussing some hardware differences and how those translate into the gaming experience. Of course then we go forward with speculation about the future of VR.

Sorry about the background noises but Nicola wanted to try recording the episode while in VR and did not realized how much it would pick up the noise in the house.

Let us know what you think of the VR technology and which are your favorite games if you are already into it!

In the first episode of 2020 we finally got together again after a pause that ended up being longer than expected with my 2 months trip to Japan after the summer holidays. 

This is an easy episode to start the new year with our plans for the future of the podcast and, of course, some random discussions about some potential future topics.

We hope that we will manage a better consistency this year with a bi weekly release to better manage guests and topics and improve the quality of each episode.

In this episode we are having an organic discussion starting with  open source smartphone hardware and software to the future of open  source and privacy. This was an interesting discussion moving naturally  to the issues of privacy in today's internet and how open source could  affect in the future.

During the summer we will have some hard time keeping the weekly  release schedule, I hope that will not be a problem and maybe you will  have time to catch up if you missed some episodes.

In this episode we are discussing the upcoming game Starbase from  Frozenbyte with Artturi. He was missed in the podcast for a while and he  has been working on the game for a while.

We are discussing a bit the technology behind the engine, how a game  is developed and game design. Hopefully this will give some inside view  into game development.

In this episode we are discussing the year's E3 conference, which  games interested us the most and the news in hardware (both GPU and CPU)  annouced at the conference. There is no talk about consoles and many  games were missing but we are planning a continuation episode with more  discussion.

In this episode Juhana is finally back and we get to have another of  the random discussions about different topics. A bit about the Chernobyl  HBO series (go watch it), the robot vacuum-cleaner and the value of  privacy. This is a topic that comes out here rather often because we  apparently really care and, every time, we hope that people would also  care more.

Finally for the real interesting stuff (at 28:00) we discuss a bit  about the new 5 nm semiconductor manufactoring node that TSMC and  Samsung are starting to produce. And with this comes a bit of future  talk in the field.

In this episode I'm speaking about some games I'm playing, a short one to fill some holiday time.

Games in the episode: AC origins, The Division 2 and Destiny 2, Generation Zero and Rage 2.

More traditional discussion with science and tech next week!

Again I was left alone for this episodes and these are not easy to do  without a proper discussion, the interest feedback is missing when  speaking to a screen (at least my cat is here listening to me).

Anyway, this time I'm talking about some more EU project from railway  network simulation to automatic maintenance and smart sleepers to  automatic beer brewing technology with some new welding technology.

Hopefully this smaller episodes are not too painful to listen, we will try to go back to normal discussions from the next time!

To all the esteemed listeners,

We want to formally thank all of you for listening this podcast for  so long. We finally reached the big milestone of 1 year of actual  episodes and we are still planning on going. We will try to invite more  and more interesting guests (while having easy access to professors in  the university) and, hopefully, start the microfabrication series.

This episode was more for us since we are just having a random  conversation among friends, we deserved after 1 year I think. If you  actually get to the end let us know on Twitter, I'm curious to see how  many get that far.

Again thanks and best regards,

STG podcasting team.

In this episode we discuss with Professor Kujala from Aalto  university about his research work in Marine technology with a focus on  the arctic (being located in Finland, there is always a focus on ice)  and the expertise that the University and companies in Finland have  acquired over the years.

We go through Ice breaker technology, how does an ice breaker  actually works and then all the studies that are done on the ice itself  to understand its behavior as a material and in relation to ships and,  nowadays, offshore wind turbine in cold climates.

In this episode we are discussing with professor Esa Kallio from  Aalto about the satellites built in the university and how do you build a  cube satellite with students. The Aalto-1 was the first satellite built  in Finland and now, after 2 more built in Aalto University, some  commercial cubesat have being built from spin off company.

The discussion is around what you can do with cube satellites, the  possibility you can have to do science on a different scale (both  complexity and price) compared to traditional, big and expensive  satellite.

In this episode we are discussing with Aalto University professor  Armi Temmes about the future of district heating in Finland. Most of the  discussion is revolving around the use of renewable energies for both  electricity and direct heat generation.

Starting with an introduction to the topic and then following the  needs and challenges from a technical and policy point of views of  moving the heat production from fossil fuel to, mostly, wind and solar.  All the discussion are on a planing phase and, while the technology  might be there, there are still many big and small issues that need to  be solved also on a policy and society level.

In this episode we are discussing with Mario about HVDC electricity  transportation starting from the electricity war between AC and DC and  moving around the topics a lot trying to explain all of it in a  understandable manner. Hopefully it was easy to follow, surely it was  interesting for us to discuss and learn about!

In this episode we start speaking about some books we have read and  the conversation quickly goes to the difference we think there is  between some movies and their relative book. In particular 2001:space  Odyssey, Fight Club, The Martian and Gravity even if it is not from a  book.

In this episode I'm discussing with Nicola our plans for a series of  episode where we will go through generally and in depth into Micro and  Nanofabrication as well as how the modern semiconductor industry works.

In the meanwhile we are discussing the new battle royale game Apex  Legends from Respawn (the maker of the Titanfall series). From there the  discussion always move around and we are discussing free 2 play models  (apex included).

Sorry for the less interesting episode, we hope to start with more interesting technical episodes soonTM!

In this episode we are celebrating the 1000 downloads milestone.  Might not be much but it is nice to know that people actually want to  listen to us (or start to just to making us feel nice) and we hope that  we will continue improve the content going forward. Next milestone is 52  episodes, the real 1 year of podcasting.