e408 — Lunar Data Mining

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photo of Moon over Hatteras, NC, June 2011
photo by Michael Martine, Moon over Hatteras, NC, June 2011

Published 13 March 2023

Michael, Andy and Michael start things off for this edition of Games at Work with a new generative AI.  RoomGPT allows you to remodel an existing room and see what it might look like.  There is an option to specify the kind of room, and Andy suggests that his studio is in fact a bathroom.  The results are in the show notes below, and much like other AI exemplars, some strange artifacts emerge.  

Switching gear to the Lord of the Rings, the co-hosts discuss the Peter Jackson extended editions, and some scenes written, filmed and cut from the extended editions.  Michael R comments on the game opportunities (past & future) for the franchise, specifically remembering the LoTR Online game.  

Turning next to micro 3D printing, the team considers a mini Mac (not a Mac Mini) complete with an SD card for what would have been the disk drive in a palm sized Mac Classic format.  Check the show notes below for an Instructables on how to make your own.  And if an earlier exemplar of MacOS is more your speed, you can run an emulation of an 1991 Macintosh Quadra with a Motorola CPU.

After a stroll down the virtual streets of SimCity and Cities:Skylines, the co-hosts discuss an article about long term data storage on the Moon.  Last, the team wraps up this episode with a new LCARS emulation from Iconfactory.  

What are your thoughts on use cases for generative AI?  What OS would you like to have an LCARS UI?  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.

Selected Article Links

Designing with AI

RoomGPT.io

RoomGPT GitHub

bathroom generated by RoomGPT.io
bathroom generated by RoomGPT.io

On Thursday OpenAI launched their ChatGPT API. I was immediately intrigued, and within an hour I was able to make ChatGPT requests through Siri. Friday I spent the day in the emergency room, but on Saturday I asked @Soroush if he could help me with some backend work.

Short Circuit was feature complete within 48 hours, it spent more time in TestFlight review than it took to build the app. It's now available for testing and I'd love people's feedback, ChatGPT + Siri + Shortcuts, and more to come!

— Joe Fabisevich :verified: (@mergesort) 2023-03-07T20:14:03.481Z

Naturally the logo and app icon was also made by generative AI, thanks to Midjourney. Look at this cute lil AI helper. 🥺🥺🥺

— Joe Fabisevich :verified: (@mergesort) 2023-03-07T21:02:41.375Z

Lord of the Rings

CBR.com article: LOTR’s Most Dramatic Deleted Scene Nearly Ruined Sauron

ScreenRant article: Forget Hogwarts Legacy, It’s Lord Of The Rings’ Time To Shine

Tiny Technology

It’s working! Teeny Mac! 😄

— Dustin Mierau (@dustin) 2023-03-07T00:52:05.047Z

Mac Mini

Autodesk Instructables article: Making a Tiny Mac From a Raspberry Pi Zero

Macintosh.js

City Sims such as SimCity

PC Gamer article: SimCity launched a decade ago, and it was so disastrous it killed the series

Games at Work e22: Play for Free on Free to Play

Games at Work e60: Bubbly Bubblers in Gamified Buildings

Sims Community Info article: Studio behind “Cities: Skylines” is announcing a Life Simulation

Cities: Skylines 

To the moon

Gizmodo article: Florida Startup Moves Closer to Building Data Centers on the Moon

Lonestar

Star Trek LCARS

If you’re a fan, this would be a good week to check out our Patreon. My updated LCARS wallpapers are coming exclusively to Wallaroo & Patreon on Thurs.

LCARS 2023 Includes:
– Lock Screen IPhone variants for use with widgets
– Home Screen varants for use on iPhone & iPad
– Exclusive ‘Red Alert’ theme for Patreon subs
– Extra wide Mac desktop variants for Studio Displays

Subscribe at patreon.com/Iconfactory for all the perks or via Wallaroo in the App Store 🖖 apps.apple.com/us/app/wallaroo

— Ged Maheux (@gedeonm) 2023-03-06T22:05:07.653Z

Iconfactory

Wallaroo

Project Ritos:  LCARS for the U.S.S. Cerritos / California Class

Games at Work e392: Take Note

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e407 — Can’t Spell Pain Without AI

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mo-cap digital image of a person with a red circle on their back, hunched over while walking and a hand positioned close to that circle.
Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Published 6 March 2023

Michael, Michael and Andy start things off for this edition of Games at Work with an intriguing report on how a number of companies in Japan are founding a metaverse infrastructure called Ryugukoku.  It is envisioned that participants in this environment will encounter metaverse services and content that “takes on the form of a moving ‘city’, ‘castle’, or ‘vehicle’ that roams around the virtual world” according to a Fujitsu press release.  Furthermore, the metaverse infrastructure will have identity management, payment settlement, digital twins and a number of additional services provided by member companies.  It will be very interesting to see how this develops!  

Then, the co-hosts take on several headset stories, beginning with an MIT Media Lab project called X-AR, which provides x-ray vision to locate RF tagged items.  Then, the team takes a look at the German startup Tooz, who have created an implementation of AR lenses that fit in very normal looking eyeglass frames.   Next, the team considers a story from iMore about how the Apple VR headset may look, as well as the reported functionality of “air typing” as a user experience.

Then, the team turns their attention to generative solutions on several fronts.  Among them is a camera that translates to text what it sees and then feeds that text into an image generator to produce a picture.  Another example is Perilous Shores, which generates fantastic fantasy maps which could be used in role playing games.  Then, the co-hosts look at scenario.com which allows the easy and rapid production of game assets.  Michael R produces some cool potion bottles – see an example in the show notes below.

Wrapping things up for this episode, the team discuss the new APIs from OpenAI for ChatGPT and Whisper.  They also touch on Wired Magazine’s policy statement for how they will and will not use generative AI technology for the magazine.  

Do you have a philosophy for how you will (or will not) use generative 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.

Selected Article Links

metaverse + AR

The Register article: Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, pals proclaim ‘Japan Metaverse Economic Zone’

Fujitsu Press Release: Launching Industrial Applications of the Metaverse for a Digital Twin Society

EurekAlert article: Augmented reality headset enables users to see hidden objects

MIT Media Lab project: X-AR is an augmented reality (AR) system that gives humans “X-Ray Vision”

Wikipedia article: X-Ray Specs

Boy Genius Report article: Tooz AR glasses finally add AR to eyeglasses that look normal

Tooz 

iMore article: Apple VR headset won’t require an iPhone, will have “in-air typing”

Games at Work e192 – PVP-Y (Mr. Mumbles)

AI

Hackaday article: This Camera Produces a Picture, Using the Scene Before It

Perilous Shores generative maps

Games at Work e370 – Driving with the Queen (map generation)

scenario.com AI generated game assets

fluorescent potion vial with a dragon encircling it
Michael Rowe’s generated vial from Scenario.com

Dogear Nation e158 Vile in a Vial from June 2010 

Engadget article: ThinkGeek is selling Mana Energy Potion if you want it

Ars Technica article: ChatGPT and Whisper APIs debut, allowing devs to integrate them into apps

Wired Magazine article: How WIRED Will Use Generative AI Tools

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e406 — AI Lemmings

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multiple exposure photo of a chess pawn
Photo by Elia Pellegrini on Unsplash

Published 27 Feb 2023

Michael, Michael and Andy start things off for this edition of Games at Work with an 25 year old example of the metaverse: Ultima Online.  The MIT Technology Review article on UO describes some of the experiment in the massively online world and likens the developers to a government that created laws through code and in-game economics.  

Then the co-hosts into a discussion on Andy’s recent experiment with ChatGPT.  Andy asked ChatGPT to write a professional bio, and as in many other well documented examples, the initial examples were filled with inaccuracies.  Patiently and politely, Andy corrected those inaccuracies through the conversational experience, and landed with something quite good after several iterations.  This kind of was the subject of a recent Washington Post article as well.  A Wired article focused on how AI is employed to author more believable phishing email – so watch out for more sophisticated, grammatically correct scams in your inbox.  And Midjourney was used to create realistic images of Gaudí architecture that was never built.  

Next up is Andy’s recent AR acquisition, the Brilliant Monocle.  This device has a small screen to provide information through a lens that attaches to an eyeglass frame.  Speaking of small screens, James Brown (no, not the Godfather of Soul) made a functional Doom-playing computer using one of LEGO’s computer bricks.  This reminded the co-hosts of e372 where another such example of a functioning LEGO-sized computer was discussed. 

Then, the co-hosts talk about Humanity, a Lemmings-esque game that will be released in May.  The currently available demo (available 23 Feb through 6 Mar) shows the interesting gameplay alongside a level builder.  Wrapping things up for this episode, the co-hosts take a look at the latest edition of Gran Turismo, which features a VR mode. 

What other games should the LEGO computer brick be able to play?  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.

Selected Article Links

Metaverse OG

MIT Technology Review: Welcome to the oldest part of the metaverse

Ultima Online

fun with AI

Andy’s fun with ChatGPT – multiple versions of his bio

The Washington Post article: Tech’s hottest new job: AI whisperer. No coding required.

@drewharwell an intriguing concept, especially when secondary education is so focused on the technical that literature, history and the arts are in fact quite intertwined and necessary for this kind of work. Much has been said about uncommon expertise in search being a differentiating skill set. is a natural extension. Also discussed on the episode of gamesatwork.Biz that will be published on Monday.

— Michael Martine (@michaelmartine) 2023-02-25T16:47:35.966Z

Wired article: AI Wrote Better Phishing Emails Than Humans in a Recent Test

Architectural Digest article: See the Fantastical World Antoni Gaudí Never Built

hacking

Brilliant Monocle

hackster.io article: James Brown’s Tiny LEGO Brick Computer Is Now Truly Self-Contained, with a Playable Doom Port

Games At Work e372 – Metaverse & LEGO Standards

games

The Verge article: Humanity tasks you, a Shiba Inu, with guiding humans through Lemmings-like puzzles

Humanity

Wikipedia article: Lemmings (video game)

Wikipedia article: Lemming

Wikipedia article: Shiba Inu

The Verge article: Sony shares details on Gran Turismo 7’s VR mode and 10 new PSVR 2 launch games

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e405 — New Tech in Old Skins

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steampunk light fixture
Photo by Johnny Briggs on Unsplash

Published 20 Feb 2023

Michael, Michael and Andy start things off for this edition of Games at Work with a follow up listener link on ChatGPT drawing a self portrait.  Is it a chin or is it a frown?  You decide!

The co-hosts then launch into a discussion on the new Bigscreen Beyond personalized VR headset.  Next, they discuss Snap’s ray tracing technology to enhance their AR experience to enable even more realism.  

Then, there’s a post about an Atari 510 pen plotter used to create a cursive Apple “hello” and the famous Macintosh Picasso line art. This is followed by an ingenious implementation of Windows running on a floppy disk.  Check out the show notes below to see these creative implementations.  Geoff Green writes an amusing gasoline car review from the perspective of a world where nearly all cars are electric.  This reminds Michael M of the Andy Griffith monologue “What it Was, Was Football”.  Michael M was inspired by this and wrote a version of the monologue for basketball in 2013.

The case of Gonzales vs Google which is before the US Supreme Court draws the attention of the cohosts as well.  This case raises significant implications about how Section 230 may be considered in the future.  Articles from the MIT Technology Review and the EFF delve into the subject in detail.  

Rounding out this week’s episode are articles on sustainable building using materials readily available on the surface on the moon, and the theft (and subsequent recovery) of 200,000 stolen Cadbury Creme Eggs in the UK.

What would you do with 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs?  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.

Selected Article Links

The Blog of Ed Ross: ChatGPT draws a self portrait 

New Tech

The Verge article: VR’s $999 Beyond headset is custom-made to fit your face

BigscreenVR.com

Warby Parker

TechCrunch article: Snap introduces ray tracing technology for its AR lenses to enhance realism

Snap newsroom press release: Snap Introduces Ray Tracing Technology

Old Tech

Mac Picasso 👩‍🎨 plotted on my custom 510

— paulrickards (@paulrickards) 2023-02-16T18:09:13.638Z

Can you run windows ON a floppy? This is mostly for the lulz. I designed a snap fit case for adafruit’s pyportal dev board in the shape of a floppy disk 💾

— Noe Ruiz (@ecken) 2023-02-14T13:45:59.075Z

Geoff Greer post: Gasoline Car Review

energy.gov article: The History of the Electric Car

BBC TWO The Secret Genius of Modern Life episode 4: Electric Car

Wikipedia article: What It Was, Was Football by Andy Griffith

End of the Internet as we know it? 

MIT Technology Review article: The Supreme Court may overhaul how you live online

Electronic Frontier Foundation article: EFF Tells Supreme Court: User Speech Must Be Protected

Regolith & Cadbury Creme Eggs Crime

Ars Technica article: Blue Origin makes a big lunar announcement without any fanfare

Wall Street Journal article: U.K. Man Stole Nearly 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs

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