Games At Work dot Biz

Photo by Amr Taha™ on Unsplash Published 3 March 2025 e503 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on the #DeadInternet, #AI, #recipes, #crowdsourcing #VR, #VirtualWorldsMuseum, #watches such as the #Pixel3, #CasioRingWatch and much more. Andy, Michael and Michael get things started off with a couple of detailed articles on the state of AI.  They focus first on a post outlining on how historical records could be changed, using the example of PhysicsForums where backdated posts have appeared.  This leads to a conversation on human creativity and community, with examples from music and film.  A Techdirt article continues on this theme, featuring the technique dubbed SNARF, an acronym for “stakes, novelty, anger, retention and fear” used in the attention economy.  After these deep discussions, the team turns to Ed Ross’ AI created game called “Solterra Guardians” as a practical example of what can be done with AI at speed, which harkens back to episode 458 detailing an example of an AI that creates a full fledged websites from a prompt. In the AR and VR space, Andy, Michael and Michael touch on Niantic’s Into the Scaniverse app for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S VR headsets.  Content for this can be created by people with the Scaniverse app to record their experiences.  Curation and recording of the multitude of metaverse experiences is the goal of the Virtual Worlds Museum – a kickstarter aiming to reach it’s funding goal in March 2025.  This reminds the team of the OpenSimulator project for flexibility for navigation and portability between virtual worlds. Wrapping things up for this episode, the co-hosts consider a pair of timekeeping devices.  The Pixel Watch 3 has a has a feature called “Loss of Pulse Detection”, which can reach out to emergency services on behalf of the wearer.  The Casio Ring Watch is exactly what it sounds like, a Casio watch that is shrunk down to a ring form factor.   Would you want to wear a Casio Databank Ring Watch?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know!  These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI Hall of Dreams post: PhysicsForums and the Dead Internet Theory Wikipedia article: Dead Internet Theory Everyone is wasting all this money betting huge amounts on “AI” (aka large statistics models, really clever parrots) when they should be investing in the human communities around their product, which are the source of… everything. 🧠 — Jeff Atwood (@[email protected]) 2025-02-26T00:50:01.637Z Open Terms Archive Internet Archives Blog: Learning from Cyberattacks NBC News article: 1,000 musicians release a silent album in protest of U.K.’s proposed AI copyright law changes IMDb: Wag the Dog plot summary Techdirt article: Buzzfeed CEO Aims To Solve AI Slop Problem With More AI Slop Wikipedia article: Snarf (from Thundercats) @gamesatwork_bizHere's a game I made with AI (specifically ChatGPT) over the last few weeks https://edaross.codeberg.page/(it'll work on mobile if you have a keyboard connected, otherwise a standard computer is needed). — Ed Ross (@[email protected]) 2025-02-25T08:19:13.336Z Solterra Guardians Games at Work e458: Generative Podcast for AI software engineering to code websites by itself Cooking with Apple News The Verge article: Apple’s News app is getting a recipes section AR / VR Niantic Labs post: Explore the World Up Close in Vivid 3D – Step Into the Scaniverse on Meta Quest Kickstarter: Virtual Worlds Museum OpenSimulator project Which Watch is Which? Ars Technica article: Pixel Watch 3 gets FDA approval to alert you if you’re dying The Verge article: The Casio Ring Watch is extremely silly, and that’s why I love it Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own. Michael Martine

Photo by Michael Martine, Chapel Hill, NC July 2023 Published 24 February 2025 e502 with Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on AI for career recommendations, game generation, enabled devices such as the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1 and Agents, as well as Kindle eBook DRM while Andy is in transit to RubyJam. Michael and Michael get things started off with a story about Google’s Career Dreamer AI enabled tool to help people explore career possibilities, discover strengths and develop skills.  Turning next to AI Agents, Michael and Michael take a look at the Rabbit Agent and the functionality the software provides.  The team then focuses on the news about HP acquiring Humane, and especially on the AI Pin servers shutting down at the end of the month, putting a severe crimp in the functionality of the hardware devices.  This also signals that HP sees significant value in the Humane software, and reminds the co-hosts of earlier episodes dealing with technology companies shutting down services for hardware, such as the Jibo robot. Next up is a discussion on the latest eBook DRM situation with books on the Amazon Kindle, and what people can do right now other than back up books before February 26.  Then the While Waiting game spurs a broader conversation on boredom and screen time before the next topic of AI to generate games spins up.  Michael R wraps up this episode with a discussion on the Swift on Android working group, and language portability. Do you have another solution to purchasing (or licensing) books to share? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know!  These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI PCMag article: Google ‘Career Dreamer’ Tool Uses AI to Help You Explore Career Options Google’s Career Dreamer Google AI for Developers Gemini API Additional Terms of Service Pandora Music Genome Project The Verge article: Rabbit shows off the AI agent it should have launched with Rabbit Tech: LAM playground The Verge article: Humane is shutting down the AI Pin and selling its remnants to HP Humane News: HP Accelerates AI Software Investments to Transform the Future of Work HP Newsroom press release: HP Accelerates AI Software Investments to Transform the Future of Work Games at Work e464: AI Piano Man, touching on both the Rabbit R1 and the Humane’s AI Pin Games at Work e230: Dance this AR Around, touching on the shut down of Jibo Surreal. This #StarTrek com badge “toy” that uses Bluetooth and costs around just $80 has more functionality than the more expensive #Humane #AI pin will in a few days. — David Bisset (@[email protected]) 2025-02-20T13:21:18.755Z Books – eBooks and paper You can back up all your Kindle books using this script – https://federatedfandom.net/@villainousfriend/114009999021828439 A lot easier than manually downloading them all. After that, install the Calibre eBook Manager https://calibre-ebook.com/ Install the noDRM plugin for Calibre https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools Give the plugin your Kindle's serial number. Import your Kindle books into Calibre. Done. You now have a DRM-free copy of all your purchased eBooks. You can copy them to your eReader, convert to ePub, save on a backup disk, etc. — Terence Eden (@[email protected]) 2025-02-16T09:23:51.268Z Treetrum Github repo: amazon-kindle-bulk-downloader Michael Rowe’s Random Thoughts blog: 10 years of Podcasting Discover Durham: Books Do Furnish a Room Bookshelf app Tom’s Guide article: No Kindle? No problem: 5 places to buy DRM-free e-books Crowd Supply article: Ink Console Ink Console Wikipedia article: Chose Your Own Adventure books Wikipedia article: Infocom Games – for waiting and for generating The Verge article: While Waiting is a playful reminder of the joys of boredom While Waiting on Steam metro.co.uk article: Xbox is using AI to make games in a disturbing vision of next gen gaming The Verge article: Microsoft’s Xbox AI era starts with a model that can generate gameplay Software Development swift.org forums: Swift on Android Working Group Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own. Michael Martine

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash Published 17 February 2025 e501 with Michael R and Andy – all about outsourcing intelligence to #AI, protecting your #data after #death, #AR #glasses, #Diablo & #Civ game ports, #backdoors and more! So many articles these days have a headline such as “what happens to your body when you <fill in the blank>”.  Michael R and Andy start off the episode exploring what happens when you outsource some, or too much, of your cognitive energy to an AI.   Then, the team turns to a discussion on a hardware + software solution for protecting your data when you shuffle off the mortal coil and join the choir invisible.  Check out the In Case of Death Case, replete with the pulse detecting In Case of Death Smart Ring and associated software.  Next, some speculation on what the team in Cupertino is doing with glasses-based AR.  Then, a story from the UK on the mandate to provide a backdoor for end-to-end encrypted data for Apple and other companies.   On a lighter note, Michael and Andy discuss how to run Diablo 1 on a variety of hardware and software.  And speaking of ports, Civilization VII will be made available on Meta’s Quest later this spring. The team then wraps things up with The Wheel of Time.   What steps have you taken to protect your data?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know!  These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI A new paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can “result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.” https://www.404media.co/microsoft-study-finds-ai-makes-human-cognition-atrophied-and-unprepared-3/ — Kevin Beaumont (@[email protected]) 2025-02-10T16:02:56.509Z 404 Media article: Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared” New Scientist article: Using AI tools like ChatGPT can reduce critical thinking skills Boy Genius Report article: We just started using AI like ChatGPT, and it may already be making us dumber Microsoft Research article: The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers Apple Stories Macworld article: Any case can protect your iPad. This one protects you when you die Zugu’s The In Case of Death Case Games at Work e218: Virtually Married 9 to 5 Mac article: Report: Apple’s plan for standalone AR glasses ‘remains intact’ Six Colors article: UK Orders Apple to Implement Secret Global Backdoor for End-to-End Encryption Games at Work e416: Lawsuits and Swimsuits Entertainment PC Gamer article: The best way to play Diablo 1 on pretty much anything just got an update for a 20-year-old Apple OS that runs on a dead chipset, one lunatic somewhere presumably rejoices Diasurgical’s Github for DevilutiuonX The Verge article: Civilization VII is getting a Quest VR port this spring Ars Technica article: Wheel of Time S3 trailer tees us up for Last Battle Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own. Michael Martine

Photo by Thiago Giardini on Pexels. Published 10 February 2025. Incredible scenes as the co-hosts celebrate the milestone 500th episode of your weekly technology podcast! … or, is it season 5, episode 00? The team kicks off by thinking back to some of their favourite episodes from the past: Michael M: e060, Bubbly Bubblers – https://gamesatwork.biz/2013/09/08/episode-60-bubbly-bubblers-in-gamified-buildings/ Michael R: e191, Return of the Piper – https://gamesatwork.biz/2018/01/15/episode-191-return-of-the-piper/ Andy: e292, Elite British gaming – https://gamesatwork.biz/2020/10/12/episode-292-elite-british-gaming/ After these reminiscences, the show gets down to reviewing the links from the past couple of weeks, across many of the usual topic headings: AI, Apple technology, Gaming and Making. There’s also a brief discussion of Andy’s recent visit to FOSDEM 2025. Let us know what you think of our musings – have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know! Selected Links AI OpenAI’s Operator Agent https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/technology/openai-operator-agent.html Apple Apple’s ELEGNT robotics https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/elegnt-expressive-functional-movement https://www.theverge.com/news/607663/apple-smart-home-robot-research-video Downloading personalities http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=4482 AirTags and AirLines https://www.fastcompany.com/91267549/lost-luggage-apple-airtag-airline-share-item-location-united-delta Gaming Super Mario World in Unreal Engine https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-game-design/super-mario-world-got-remade-in-3d-using-unreal-engine-5-and-the-result-is-so-much-fun DOOM in.. a search bar https://www.pcgamesn.com/doom/google-search-bar a Lightning to HDMI adapter https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/02/04/doom-can-even-be-played-on-apples-lightning-to-hdmi-adapter Making / Makers uCritter https://www.ucritter.com/ FOSDEM https://fosdem.org/2025/ Pigeon air patrol https://inhabitat.com/pigeons-with-backpacks-are-tweeting-about-londons-notorious-pollution/pigeon-air-patrol/ Hey, I did another thing!! Please check out "Harmony," the latest addition to swift-embedded-examples. Harmony is a Bluetooth speaker with a builtin ferrofluid music visualizer. Everything you need to build Harmony from scratch is either open sourced now, or will be available soon. This includes the embedded swift firmware, the bill of materials, electrical schematics, and the 3d models. https://github.com/apple/swift-embedded-examples/tree/main/harmony #EmbeddedSwift #Swift #SwiftLang #FOSDEM — rauhul (@[email protected]) 2025-02-01T17:59:11.909Z Ignite OSS Swift based Site generator https://github.com/twostraws/Ignite Here’s to another 500 episodes! 🥳

Photo by Matthew Jones on Unsplash Published 3 February 2025 E499 with Michael and Michael – all about #AI with #DeepSeek, #coldstart, #hallucinations, #BerlinWall, #AttentionEconomy, #IntentionEconomy and a whole lot more! Michael and Michael start the AI train off with a discussion about DeepSeek, which has been all over the news this past week. This leads into a conversation about generative AI’s propensity to hallucinate, and per the Schneier article, how AI mistakes are very different from human mistakes. Michael M gives an example of his recent experience using Ollama to run LLMs on his laptop, and the GenAI inaccurate description of some of the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, which in and of itself was precipitated by a human mistake. Next up is a discussion on methods used to trick AI scrapers that ignore the robots.txt file – and a callback to e451 where other data poisoning techniques were front and center.  Remember Nightshade, anyone?  Wrapping things up for the episode, Michael and Michael go deep on a discussion on the migration from the “attention economy” to the “intention economy”.  Check out the discussion from 2013, e67 about the attention economy!   Have we entered the “intention economy”?  How can you protect your data from being harvested for the intention economy?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know!  These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Selected Links AI Boy Genius Report: Here’s another reason not to use DeepSeek AI IEEE Spectrum article: What DeepSeek Means for Open-Source AI Its new open reasoning model cuts costs drastically on AI reasoning DeepSeek.com  Schneier on Security article: AI Mistakes Are Very Different from Human Mistakes ollama.com TheWorld.org article: How a mistake at a press conference helped topple the Berlin Wall Ars Technica article: AI haters build tarpits to trap and trick AI scrapers that ignore robots.txt Games at Work e451: Fahrenheit  Fast Company article: Frustrated with today’s ‘attention economy’? You’re really going to hate what comes next Harvard Data Science Review: Beware the Intention Economy: Collection and Commodification of Intent via Large Language Models Games at Work e67: Free BitCoins! Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own. Michael Martine