e501 — Dumb Users, Smart AI 

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sticker reading “Smart Phones | Dumb People!” on an electrical cabinet in the foreground of a street scene
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Published 17 February 2025

e501 with Michael R and Andy – all about outsourcing intelligence to , protecting your after , , & game ports, 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 @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

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.”

404media.co/microsoft-study-fi

— Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:05 — 51.6MB) | Embed

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e500 – fünfhundert smooth operator

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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:

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 @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (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..

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.

github.com/apple/swift-embedde

— rauhul (@rauhul) 2025-02-01T17:59:11.909Z

Ignite OSS Swift based Site generator https://github.com/twostraws/Ignite  

Here’s to another 500 episodes! 🥳

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:55 — 48.6MB) | Embed

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e499 — Seeking Data

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coin operated binoculars on a rooftop overlooking New York City.
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Published 3 February 2025

E499 with Michael and Michael – all about with , , , , , 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 @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

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:44 — 49.7MB) | Embed

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e498 — Password to the Oregon Trail

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covered wagon with a password entry box on the side
covered wagon with a password entry box on the side adapted from Photo by James Lee on Unsplash

Published 20 January 2025

e498 with Michael, Andy and Michael on , , , , , , and a whole lot more!

Michael, Andy and Michael start things off with a discussion about the weather, and this time, it’s related to mapping technology and the integration of way finding with weather.  Using the example of CARROT weather, the team takes a look at how this app integrates the two.  During the show notes writeup, another app, Weather on the Way, surfaces as an example for how weather forecasts along with the directions can be pulled together.

This episode has a bonanza of games and gamification, with the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware announcement.  Then, an (un)serious game like 1Crossword, which integrates with your password manager to create crossword puzzles to play and share on social media.  Next, an RPG style command line interfaces enabling a rogue-like romp through your directory structure.  Doom fans may rejoice at an example of the game played through a PDF.   And there is an intriguing experience on the Oregon Trail where waiting down by the riverside for a long, long time will have surprising results.

After taking a look at the 25 year celebration of the Sims and a LEGO example of Tetris, the cohosts evaluate the micro robot from Robeauté. 

Wrapping things up for the episode, Michael R shares the news that his Quick Localizer app has now hit the MacOS App Store Check out the link below for more details.

How long would you wait by the river?  What other tasks would you want a mini robot to do?  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

Weather and Maps

9 to 5 Mac article: CARROT Weather adds new CarPlay app, plus upgraded Live Activities

CARROT Weather: Alerts and Radar

The Apple Geek post: Weather on the Way

Weather on the Way

Games and Gamification

Nintendo Switch 2

I couldn't find any good games for my password manager. So I made one.

1Crossword connects to your 1Password vault and generates a crossword entirely out of your passwords!

The crosswords are fun, simple, and great for sharing on social media when you finish. Enjoy!

— nolen (@eieio) 2025-01-15T18:27:27.910Z

eieio.games post: 1Crossword: Crosswords For Your Password Manager

olano.dev blog post: Deconstructing the Role-Playing Video Game

Github repo: facundoolano rpg-cli

DoomPDF

moral.net.au blog post: Can you complete the Oregon Trail if you wait at a river for 14272 years: A study

EA Sim4 post: Behind The Sims 25th Birthday Special

LEGO Ideas: Tetris Solid

Mini Robots

Fortune article: Exclusive: Startup pioneering tiny robots that can travel inside the brain gets $28 million in new venture funding

Robeauté

IMDB: Total Recall

Language Localization

Michael R’s New app on localization –

Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own.

Michael Martine

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:49 — 49.8MB) | Embed

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