It’s a beautiful world we live in, and the virtual aspects make it even more so. A happy 40th anniversary celebration to Namco’s Pac-Man and 30th for Microsoft Solitaire. Amazing to think about how games such as these have been around now for so long, and are part of the fabric so many people’s computer experiences. Infocom’s text based adventures pop up in the discussion, and Michael M finds the scratch-n-sniff page from Phobos in his collection – see show notes for a picture!)
Microsoft’s GW-BASIC has now been open sourced, which prompts the expected memory lane conversation between Michael, Michael and Andy, and even lands on an audio description of the “snow” code in BASIC, faithfully reproduced for the listeners here:
10 print “* * * * * * * * * * * *”
20 print “ * * * * * * * * * * * *”
30 goto 10
With many people knowing of Michael R’s Devo fandom, the surfacing of the power dome face shield on Club Devo had many reaching out to him. There is indeed something for everybody in the Devo store!
The story about Eschaton as a virtual maze of twisty passages and rooms, all unalike spurs a discussion on Secret Cinema, and the breaching of the 4th wall where the viewer becomes the viewed, and possibly a participant in the event.
The reality of AR glasses represented by North Focals, and the rumors of what Apple is working on continues to inspire “spec”ulation on what the breakthrough app will be for AR. Apple’s rumored Gobi puts an emphasis on business, and the idea of using AR for Apple’s Find My app for directing the user to find the lost device feels like a great way to bring AR to life for people who are unaccustomed to the technology.
Bird Chargers & Lime Juicers resurface as a remote job possibility, where riders can hail a GoX scooter that will be remotely driven to their desired position by a teleoperator driver. This, coupled with the high demand for package and food delivery may be the interim step for autonomous vehicles, collecting detailed route data that can be fed into the AI corpus needed for fully autonomous vehicles.
We continue to hope that everyone is safe, healthy and well. The team is looking forward to reassembling again for another episode next week! Drop us a line with what you expect to be the next ways people will get together, whether for business or fun.
Selected Links
The Library Blog: The Origins of Bank Holidays — http://libraryblog.lbrut.org.uk/wordpress/2016/12/origins-bank-holidays/
The Verge article: Microsoft Solitaire turns 30 years old today and still has 35 million monthly players — https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/22/21266718/microsoft-solitaire-30-years-old-history-birthday-record-attempt
The Guardian article: The game that ate the world: 40 facts on Pac-Man’s 40th birthday — https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/may/22/pac-man-video-game-40-years-old
The Verge article: Pac-Man will be playable on Twitch starting this June — https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/22/21266881/pac-man-live-studio-playable-on-twitch-june
Wikipedia article: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim_vs._the_World
Wikipedia article: Pixels — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixels_(2015_film)
Just one of the subjects discussed in this week’s episode 274 — to be published on Monday! #infocom #scratchnsniff pic.twitter.com/efPkD2Ic7x
— GamesAtWork_Biz (@GamesAtWork_Biz) May 23, 2020
ZDNet article: Microsoft takes you back to 1983: It’s just open-sourced its GW-BASIC interpreter — https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-takes-you-back-to-1983-its-just-open-sourced-its-gw-basic-interpreter/
New Wave gods DEVO are selling face shields based on their trademark “energy dome” hats. https://t.co/DOOj9pXaXy
— Geek & Sundry (@GeekandSundry) May 18, 2020
Club Devo: http://www.clubdevo.com
Wikipedia article: Devo album “Something for Everybody” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_for_Everybody_(Devo_album)
The Verge article: Eschaton is a surreal Zoom nightclub — and a theater for the age of social distancing — https://www.theverge.com/21266127/eschaton-chorus-productions-immersive-theater-zoom-nightclub-experiment
Wikipedia article: Devo album “Something for Everybody” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_for_Everybody_(Devo_album)
The Verge article: Eschaton is a surreal Zoom nightclub — and a theater for the age of social distancing — https://www.theverge.com/21266127/eschaton-chorus-productions-immersive-theater-zoom-nightclub-experiment
Secret Cinema — https://www.secretcinema.org
Cult of Mac article: Take a peek at Gobi, the shopping-oriented AR app coming in iOS 14 — https://www.cultofmac.com/711135/augmented-reality-viewer-app-ios-14-gobi/
Forbes article: What North’s Focals AR Glasses Taught Me About Augmented Reality — https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2019/12/12/what-norths-focals-ar-glasses-taught-me-about-augmented-reality/#320da5373fe5
North — https://www.bynorth.com
Josh Constine’s Moving Product blog: Leaked pics from Apple’s AR app Gobi — https://constine.substack.com/p/leaked-pics-from-apples-ar-app-gobi
MacRumors article: Jon Prosser Claims Apple is Working on ‘Steve Jobs Heritage Edition’ AR Glasses, Gurman Calls Rumor ‘Complete Fiction’ — https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/21/steve-jobs-heritage-edition-ar-glasses/
TechCrunch article: Remote operators in Mexico are driving scooters to riders in this Atlanta suburb — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/20/remote-operators-in-mexico-are-driving-scooters-to-riders-in-this-atlanta-suburb/
Go X Self-Driving Electric Scooter Sharing — https://goxapollo.com/index.html
Games At Work Episode 236 — A Magic Leap for Botkind (including Lime Squeezers & Byrd Catchers) — https://gamesatwork.biz/2019/06/17/episode-236-a-magic-leap-for-botkind/
Snapdrop — https://snapdrop.net/#about
TechCrunch article: Help Wanted: Autonomous robot guide — https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/17/help-wanted-autonomous-robot-guide/
objc blog post: SwiftUI: Running a Mac App Without an Xcode Project — https://www.objc.io/blog/2020/05/19/swiftui-without-an-xcodeproj/
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Great show guys! Sorry I missed the recording.