e426 — Barbenheimer Chic

Imagined Barbie Dream Police Box set inspired by Natalie Stevens' work. Mentions that Ken-companion is available separately.
Inspired by natalie.3dblah’s Dream Vehicles, mashed up with Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Published 31 July 2023

Michael, Michael and Andy don their rose colored AR glasses for this this infused episode.  Topics this week include stories and toots about the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies released last week, AI deepfakes allowing dead artists to sing songs, Raspberry PI powered BlackBerry devices, Redditor pranks, repurposed Selectric typewriters and the developer kit for the Vision Pro.

The co hosts start things off this episode with all manner of imagined Barbie Dream vehicles shared by New Zealand based 3D artist Natalie Stevens from Battlestar Galactica to a triceratops.  Her models inspired the above Police Box image for the episode.  

Continuing on the theme, the co hosts talk about the stories for PalmPilot emulation for the IMAX showings of Oppenheimer.  This reminds Andy of a Beepy / BeepBerry – check out the image in the show notes below!  

Continuing on the Barbie theme while pivoting to AI, the co hosts marvel at Johnny Cash singing Barbie Girl.  While there is a discussion in the YouTube comments that Johnny Cash *could* have sung Barbie Girl while he was alive, it is highly likely that he did not.  This AI generated Johnny Cash provides a terrific performance, foreshadowing much more to come.

Following up on Ian Hughes’ listener link on Simulation led to the example of how their generative AI was used to craft a South Park episode that leverages deepfakes of actors in a story about using deepfakes of actors.  This Escheresque self referential treatment of generating a show using AI about shows using AI was just outstanding.  

Switching gears, though staying squarely in the AI space, the team discusses the Redditor prank about the World of Warcraft posts about Glorbo being amplified by AI bots scraping Reddit.  This reminded Michael M of the reason why Van Halen would include a requirement in their concert riders to have a bowl of M&Ms with “absolutely no brown ones.”  Could such a technique be used to ensure proper provenance in LLMs?  

Wrapping up this episode included a discussion on old and new hardware, specifically repurposing Selectric typewriters as a Linux terminal and the requirements for those that are interested in gaining access to Apple’s developer kit and hardware for the Vision Pro.

What would be your Barbie Dream vehicle?  Whose movie character would you want to replace with a deepfake Danny DeVito?  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 Article Links

Barbenheimer

Seen one of these posted without credit, so sharing some more here because they are amazing and I'd buy every single one of them if they existed.

Made by New Zealand model maker and 3D artist Natalie Stevens (natalie.3dblah). More of her work here:
instagram.com/natalie.3dblah/

— Annie Hsh :mastodon:🖖:cofe4: (@fringemagnet) 2023-07-25T19:23:06.434Z

Natalie Stevens’ Instagram

ToysREvil blog post: Barbie Dream Vehicles by Natalie Stevens

Ars Technica article: IMAX emulates PalmPilot software to power Oppenheimer’s 70 mm release

The Verge article: Here’s why the best IMAX movies still need a Palm Pilot to work

Beepy

AI

The Simulation

Fable Studio paper: To Infinity and Beyond: SHOW-1 and Showrunner Agents in Multi-Agent Simulations

Ars Technica article: Redditors prank AI-powered news mill with “Glorbo” in World of Warcraft

Smithsonian Magazine article: Why Did Van Halen Demand Concert Venues Remove Brown M&M’s From the Menu?

Games at Work e424: What’s AI got to do with it?

Board Game Geek Overview: Small World of Warcraft

Hardware

Hackaday post: SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER GOES FROM TRASH CAN TO LINUX TERMINAL

The Verge article: Apple is taking applications for Vision Pro developer kits

Ars Technica article: Devs aren’t allowed to let Apple’s Vision Pro dev kits out of their sight

e425 — Cone Heads

traffic cones on top of a fire hydrant and posts on the side of a street
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Published 24 July 2023

Michael, Michael and Andy are all back together for this opening weekend episode.  Topics for this show include stories about autonomous vehicles, new & old games including , , , and as well as a discussion about the laptop.  

Starting things off this episode, is an article from Schneier on Security detailing how some people are causing autonomous vehicles to stop driving by placing a code on the hood of the car.  The discussion on this topic reminds Michael M of the Harvey Mudd College prank policy (see show notes below).  

Next on the list is a game that blends photography of real objects with the in-game / in-world experience called Viewfinder.  Check out the YouTube video below to see how it operates.  Could there be a View-Master + Viewfinder integration sometime in the future?  Andy brings up Dave the Diver (#DTD) as a game he’s spending time on.  He’s having so much fun with it that it is preventing him from getting started with Baldur’s Gate 3.

Sticking with the games theme, the cohosts reminisce about Dungeons & Dragons.  They react to an article from PC Gamer that takes a strong position that all the newfangled electronics that replace imagination are a detriment to the game.

Wrapping up this episode with a discussion on the Framework repairable & upgradeable computer, Andy shares a couple of additional cool hardware links.

Are you a purist when it comes to playing D&D or do you take full advantage of technology?  Are you a fan of repairing your computer yourself?  Did you have a weekend?  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 Article Links

Cones

Schneier on Security post: Disabling Self-Driving Cars with a Traffic Cone

Vice article: ‘Week of Cone’: Activist Group Is Protesting Driverless Cars by Disabling Them With Traffic Cones

Harvey Mudd College Prank Policy

Reality Games

New World Notes article: Viewfinder Finally Playable On Steam & PS5 For Brain-Melting Indie Fun

View-Master Wikipedia entry

Kotaku article: This Ocean-Diving RPG Never Stops Adding Brilliant New Ideas

Baldur’s Gate 3

Five Things On Friday

Games

PC Gamer article: D&D’s upcoming virtual tabletop radiates a big-budget misunderstanding of what matters in role-playing games

Roll20 Marketplace

Gizmodo article: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Is Still Blowing Minds, 20 Years Later

KOTOR Wikipedia entry

Games at Work e102 — I’ve got Plasticity

Hardware

The Verge article: Framework Laptop 16: our exclusive hands-on

Framework midboard QR code resolves to their job postings

DevTerm

ClockworkPi

CrowdSupply MNT Reform

Ultimate Hacking Keyboard Trackpoint Module

e424 — What’s AI got to do with it?

strolling robot
Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels

Published 17 July 2023

Michael and Michael get together to cohost this episode while Andy is away.  Topics for this show include stories about the spate of lawsuits related to intellectual property ownership issues for generative AI, Furby, screenless AI and BMW’s ConnectedRide AR glasses.

Starting off with the legal side of AI – while neither Michael nor Michael are attorneys, they are fascinated with the challenges of intellectual property ownership, fair use and licensing in the generative AI domain.  After bringing up a couple of recent articles on the subject, they turn to the Furby toy and the potential for generative AI in that market.

Next, the co-hosts turn to screen less AI – using the example from as a reference, and bringing in the Humane AI Pin to the discussion.  

Switching from the screenless example to AR glasses, Michael and Michael talk about BMW’s AR glasses – check out the video in the show notes below.  They talked about AR in motorcycle helmets way back in e194.

How do you see AI evolving next?  Will screenless design win out over AR or VR?  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 Article Links

AI

CNN Business article: Sarah Silverman sues OpenAI and Meta alleging copyright infringement

CNN Business article: Google hit with lawsuit alleging it stole data from millions of users to train its AI tools

The Verge article: My kids love Furby — send help

Wikipedia article: Teddy Ruxpin

FastCompany article: Why Apple’s Vision Pro should remove the screen

Argodesign

Games at Work e416 — AR Space Invaders

Humane News post: Humane reveals the name of first device, the Humane Ai Pin

AR Vision

Mixed News article: BMW introduces Smartglasses for Motorcycling

Games at Work e194: Human Roombas

TechCrunch article: LiveMap shows off latest prototype of augmented reality motorcycle helmet

e423 — Take me out to the (virtual) ball game

DOS Baseball game
Photo by Michael Martine, July 2023

Published 10 July 2023

Andy, Michael and Michael are all together to cohost this episode.  Topics for this show include Andy’s recent Liverpool experiences, AR, VR and AI.  Andy kicked off with details about Liverpool MakeFest, and several of the elements showcased there that caught his eye.  Among these elements are a hot air balloon, the architectural beauty of the Central Library and recycling 3D printing material via Precious Plastic Machines.  He also returned to blogging form and links to his two posts are included below.

On Saturday, 8 July, Major League Baseball hosted a VR stadium for the celebrity All Star Game.  A YouTube recording of the experience by 1stmint is included in the show notes so you can check it out.  

With all of the recent discussion on Apple’s VisionPro, there are a couple of stories about what Supernova Technologies have done on a Quest Pro.  Also on the docket is the new Game Porting Toolkit beta. 

Turning next to AI, the cohosts share their thoughts on Google’s updated privacy policy as it relates to using publicly available information to help improve it’s AI models.  Wrapping up for the episode Michael M shares some of his experiences from MIT’s Dr. Cynthia Breazeal’s talk on social robotics and AI. Dr. Breazeal was the co-founder and Chief Scientist & Chief Experience Officer of Jibo, the social robotics company that featured in several Games at Work episodes over the years.

There’s never quite enough time to get to everything – so the intriguing additional stories the team did not get to discuss today are included in the show notes bonus links below.

Are you changing your online posting behavior to avoid or encourage inclusion of your content in LLMs?  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 Article Links

Andy’s Liverpool Experiences

Liverpool MakeFest, Makers 2023

Diode Zone post: Indoor Hot Air Balloon at Liverpool MakeFest 2023 #livmf23

DoES Liverpool Makerspace

Precious Plastic Machines

Andy’s The Lost Outpost blog: Liverpool Makefest 2023

Andy’s The Lost Outpost blog: Running a 3D print catalogue with VanDAM

AR & VR

Mashable article: MLB will debut a metaverse stadium for the celebrity All-Star game

MLB’s Virtual Ballpark

9 to 5 Mac article: You can kind of try visionOS in VR now without Vision Pro

Accidental Tech Podcast

9 to 5 Mac article: Apple’s Game Porting Tool for macOS got its first update – and it’s a huge one

AI

Gizmodo article: Google Says It’ll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI

So glad that I was invited to attend a talk by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal yesterday on & . Fascinating story about the entrepreneurial experience of starting and where her research has led her now. media.mit.edu/people/cynthiab/

— Michael Martine (@michaelmartine) 2023-07-07T10:57:17.355Z

MIT Media Lab: Jibo Social Robotic Research Platform

MIT Media Lab: Dr. Cynthia Breazeal

Games at Work e230 Dance this AR Around

Bonus links

Thought we’d have flying cars by now

USA Today article: The first flying electric car, ‘Model A,’ approved by the FAA and it’s 100% electric

Entertainment

Slashfilm article: Futurama Season 11 Trailer: The Animated Series Returns Yet Again

Slashfilm article: Dune: Part Two Trailer: What’s Spice Got To Dune With It?

Hextraction

Hackspace Magazine, Issue 68