e545 – Cyberpunk pot holes

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

Published 2 March 2026

e545 with Andy and Michael – Get to talk about mostly non-AI topics this week, as we look at a cool kickstarter, Titan, that is building out a futuristic gauntlet. Do you want a forearm mounted drone? Is so, go check it out, along with the opportunity for community modules. Very cool!

We then dip back into the world of AR and VR, as people speculate how Apple’s rumored AR glasses may benefit from the recent acquisition of Q.AI. We spend some time thinking of how a new App can help identify if you are around someone who has smart glasses on. (Even if Michael get’s the TV show reference wrong – and after an exhaustive search he can’t find the right one). We also discuss Disney’s deal to relaunch the Muppets in VR Ride as a VR app.

Moving on to some cool artistic visions we look at both video and photographic way of seeing the world. Before moving back to tech with amazing upgrades to robots on Mars. Millions of miles away NASA is repurposing a chip on a robotic helicopter to improve the location information of a rover. While closer to home, robots are fixing potholes.

We end with a story about a fellow geek accidentally hacking over 7,000 home based vacuum robots.

Selected Links

AR / VR

Art

Please mind the small train inside the little train

February 25, 2026, 17:42 114 boosts 214 favorites

Robots

e544 — Are We Bananas?

Photo by Masahiro Naruse on Unsplash

Published 23 February 2026

e544 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on rumoured AI devices, addictive predictives, listening through bananas (or mud), and what happens when VR platforms die? Plus the usual assortment or other things.

This week’s episode kicks off with a check in on which tech giants are working on what devices, now? Apple stepping back from headsets but working on glasses and pendants, and OpenAI making some kind of smart Pod for your dumb Home?

Then, there’s discussion of the challenges of privacy when LLMs get access to private email and chats. Oh, and if you’re not sure if your AI is an LLM or a sentience, then Anthropic can’t answer that.

We hope you’re listening to the show in perfect digital quality, but we’re also interested to know if you’ve tried piping it to your ears through any kind of fruit – let us know.

Meta’s fully backing away from VR for Horizon Worlds, and in case Blizzard ever stops making the client software for World of Warcraft, Michael tried an open source version.

Finally, don’t let hackers get hold of your brainwaves! (it could happen)

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

Thank god Microsoft is shoving Copilot AI crap into everything. One gets the sense this isn't going to be an isolated occurrence. From Bleeping Computer:

"Microsoft says a Microsoft 365 Copilot bug has been causing the AI assistant to summarize confidential emails since late January, bypassing data loss prevention (DLP) policies that organizations rely on to protect sensitive information."

bleepingcomputer.com/news/micr

— BrianKrebs (@briankrebs) 2026-02-18T18:24:34.707Z

HEADLINE: "Prediction Markets Are Sucking Huge Numbers of Young People Into Gambling"

ALT HEADLINE: "All Our Incentives Lead to Bad Outcomes, and Prediction Markets Are Just One Example"

futurism.com/future-society/pr

— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan) 2026-02-16T17:06:59.555Z

Audio

AR/VR

Makers

Bonus link

e543 — Rent-a-Anything

A multitude of green rental bikes.
Photo by Viktor Keri on Unsplash

Published 16 February 2026

e543 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on Agentic AI and the changing nature of work, agents renting humans, real time translation, artistic roads, e-bikes for your feet and a whole lot more.

Andy, Michael and Michael get things rolling with several AI articles.  First up, is a Mastodon post by Alan Pringle that called attention to a HBR article on the influence of AI on productivity.  This then led to a post on productivity acceleration technologies from years past – from COBOL, which was designed to enable business people to write programs, to 4GLs to case tools. 

Then, the team discusses a detailed post from Matt Shumer entitled Something Big Is Happening.  The entire post is well worth reading, not only for how history is unfolding in real time, also for the recommendations that Matt makes for people to take onboard right now.  Among the recommendations are to begin the habit of adapting, and experimenting with multiple tools to build resiliency and experience.

Wrapping up this section is a new version of taskrabbit that provides an API for Agents to rent humans for specific work called rentahuman.ai .  The future is certainly coming in fast.

In the AR VR section, there is a story from Tom’s Guide where the author used her Ray Ban Meta glasses to translate the Super Bowl halftime video in real time.  This feels like the precursor to the next logical step, a dynamic version of the Amazon X-Ray feature where further context can be personalized and served up to the user if they wish.

After touching on the assembly of Game Poems and the art of roads in games, the team sprints to the end of the episode with Nike’s Project Amplify, which is an ankle exoskeleton to augment humans running abilities.  Looping back to the start of the episode, Andy highlights a BBC show featuring Chris McCausland.

What’s been your experience with AI productivity?  What are you experimenting with? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (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

"For instance, , in turn, spent more time reviewing, correcting, and guiding -generated or AI-assisted work produced by colleagues. These demands extended beyond formal review. Engineers increasingly found themselves coaching colleagues who were 'vibe-coding' and finishing partially complete pull requests."

hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-redu

— Alan Pringle (@alanpringle) 2026-02-10T13:47:23.853Z

Harvard Business Review article: AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It

caimito.net post: Why We’ve Tried to Replace Developers Every Decade Since 1969

Wikipedia article: VisualAge

Wikipedia article: Fourth-generation programming language

Wikipedia article: Computer-aided Software Engineering

shumer.dev blog post: Something Big Is Happening

metr.org 

theshamblog.com blog post: An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me

https://rentahuman.ai

taskrabbit

AR & VR

Tom’s Guide post: I wore Ray-Ban Meta Display smart glasses to watch the Super Bowl halftime show — and understood Bad Bunny in real time

Amazon X-Ray

The Verge article: YouTube is coming to the Apple Vision Pro

Game ON!

gamepoems.com 

sandboxspirit.com blog post: Art of Roads in Games

Art in Rhodes

Augmenting Humans

NPR article: ‘E-bike for your feet’: How bionic sneakers could change human mobility

Nike Newsroom post: Nike Unveils Project Amplify, the World’s First Powered Footwear System for Running and Walking

Games at Work e471: Ghost Jobs and AI (for exoskeleton stories)

BBC Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future

BBC iPlayer: Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future

Bonus links

LEGO

Reddit post: I made a working Lego Toaster

hackster.io article: The Windows 98 Toaster is Here

hackster.io article: This Tiny LEGO Fender Guitar Amp Conversion Really Works

Retrododo article: Modder Creates LEGO Game Boy Advance SP & Gets DOOM Playing

Even more!

Board Game Geek article: I made a touchscreen electronic board game table for computer and tablet board games

The Verge article: Toyota made a game engine

e542 — Vibe Coding Vowels

multi colored backlit keyboard
Photo by Mihai 👑 on Unsplash

Published 9 February 2026

e542 with Michael, Andy and Michael – Stories and discussion on programming language localization, Virtual Boy hardware & emulation, LEGO terrestrial & orbital dwellings and a whole lot more.

Michael, Andy and Michael get things rolling with an article on programming language localization, specifically using the Welsh language as syntax.  Next, the co hosts consider Matt Ballentine’s thoughtful post about the the speed of technological change, and the recommendations to capitalize on the innovation that is happening.

Then, the team takes a look at the Virtual Boy hardware, newly made available by Nintendo for the Switch and Switch 2.  This reminds Michael R of the View-Master and a Vision Pro emulator for the Virtual Boy.  Next up is a story about a Quest 3 virtual keyboard.  The experience Michael R had back in 2017 with a laser keyboard was a good reference, as is his more recent VR experience in using a hardware keyboard with his Vision Pro.

Rounding out this episode are a pair of LEGO stories – the first, a replica of a 1799 house and a of the Project Hail Mary spacecraft.  Check out the links below for the awesomeness.

How are you and your team taking the greatest advantage of the speed of change in 2026?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (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

Hackaday article: YSGRIFENNU CÔD YN GYMRAEG (WRITING CODE IN WELSH)

Raku

Sacha Chua blog post: Sketchnote: Fun With Dead Languages: Damian Conway

Matt Ballentine blog post: Is it really happening that quickly? 2025 edition

Wikipedia article: Connections

Game & VR Technology

The Verge article: Nintendo’s new Virtual Boy is more fun to look at than to play

Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch

Wikipedia article: View-Master

9 to 5 Mac article: This Vision Pro emulator brings Nintendo’s Virtual Boy back to life

TechCrunch article: Roblox’s 4D creation feature is now available in open beta

Gizmodo article: Meta’s Quest 3 Has the First VR Keyboard That Doesn’t Totally Suck

Karrello Laser Keyboard

Games at Work e164: Addictive AR

LEGO

Reddit r/lego post: My brother and I collaborated on a 17,000-piece model of a family home

Slashfilm article: New Project Hail Mary LEGO Set Gives Ryan Gosling A Close Encounter In Space