Games At Work dot Biz

e425 — Cone Heads

By Michael Martine | July 24, 2023 - 06:07 |July 26, 2023 Podcast

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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 #barbenheimer opening weekend episode. Topics for this show include stories about autonomous vehicles, new & old games including #Viewfinder, #DTD, #DND, #BaldursGate and #KOTOR as well as a discussion about the #Framework 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 #barbenheimer weekend? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:51 — 40.5MB) | Embed

e424 — What’s AI got to do with it?

By Michael Martine | July 17, 2023 - 06:32 |July 16, 2023 Podcast

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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 #Argodesign 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 #ConnectedRide 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!

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:03 — 32.7MB) | Embed

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

By Michael Martine | July 10, 2023 - 06:24 |July 9, 2023 Podcast

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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!

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 #HCI #PersonalRobotics & #AI. Fascinating story about the entrepreneurial experience of starting #Jibo and where her research has led her now. https://www.media.mit.edu/people/cynthiab/overview/

— 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:19 — 42.2MB) | Embed

e422 — Meta-Empire Strikes Back

By Michael Martine | July 3, 2023 - 06:21 |July 2, 2023 Podcast

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VR headset — Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash

Published 3 July 2023

Michael and Michael get together to cohost this episode, all about 3D, AR, VR, AI and the metaverse. Starting things off with a story from Gizmodo, the pair discuss how scientists are able to recreate 3D images of reflections from a person’s eye. After remembering other intriguing security stories from past episodes, the team turns to a story reporting that Google has discontinued Project Iris – it’s augmented reality glasses effort.

Next, several metaverse stories take center stage. Per an article from The Register, metaverses are not succeeding in the marketplace. The Atlantic has an excellent article on Second Life, authored by Wagner James Au, who also has a new book out called Making a Metaverse that Matters. Continuing on this theme are stories about how Meta is bundling games in a subscription model and have provided a significant software update to Meta Quest 2 owners. There is also a piece on how LEGO and Epic Games are partnering up to leverage the Unreal Engine for new experiences.

Then the team turns to AI with several stories on Marvel’s use of AI in a human + AI augmented fashion, what AI is doing to the “old web” and amazing new capabilities from Midjourney.

What are your predictions for AR, the metaverse and AI? 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. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.