Andy, Michael and Michael start things off for this edition of Games at Work with stories about the fediverse and the metaverse. The IT Web article predicts that the fediverse may eclipse the metaverse, and the cohosts use this as the springboard for their conversation.
Then the co-hosts discuss internet-enabled appliances, starting with an article from Ars Technica. According to the article, a great many wifi-enabled appliances are not connected to the internet. Andy shares a story about his IoT dishwasher.
What do you think will be bigger in 2023, the fediverse, the metaverse, or some other ‘verse? 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.
Michael and Michael start things off for this edition of Games at Work with an announcement that a new logo / podcast icon will be coming soon to a podcast with over 400 episodes. Then, things get rolling in earnest with an article about the forthcoming Open Metaverse Foundation, and the open source software and standards that the Linux Foundation has put into place. The co-hosts are reminded of a recent discussion on the Metaverse Standards Forum from episode 372.
Next, an intriguing blog post on not believing the hype of ChatGPT by Iris Van Rooij takes center stage. Michael and Michael also discuss their experiences with OpenAI’s Whisper.
Then, the pair talk about the new HomePod 2nd generation as well as the newly enabled capabilities of the HomePod minis. Staying on the audio theme, Michael and Michael take a look at the visualizations of the sound from dialup modems. Amazing that this article is over a decade old!
Closing out this episode, the co-hosts talk about software, from the new Ice Cubes and Ivory Mastodon clients to a 3D printing innovation: a transplant of a living 3D printed ear.
What are your favorite memories of dial up modems? 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.
New Early Access website is up which shows our current roadmap. It’s not a comprehensive list, but it will give you an idea of where our main focus is. We will update the list as we go.
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, photo by Michael Martine Jan 2023
Episode 400! Michael, Andy and Michael all get together for the four hundredth episode of the podcast.
Getting right down to business, the co-hosts start off with a novel use of ChatGPT, where Michelle Huang trained her GPT-3 chatbot from her younger self’s diary entries. This allowed her to converse with a younger version of herself, without all the muss and fuss of time travel. Check out the show notes for some of the intriguing conversations. And see e387 for links to four prior episodes dealing with training an AI for immortality, going all the way back to e26. Sticking with the AI theme, the trio discuss how Furby was a 1998 version of ChatGPT from the @SwiftOnSecurity post. Next is a conversation about Microsoft’s reported investment in OpenAI for ChatGPT from the recent news.
Next up is an AR version of Pong, played by two players on a climbing wall with the Pong game superimposed on the wall via AR. The player’s bodies are the paddles and the virtual ball goes back and forth between the players climbing up or down the wall. Most intriguingly, this YouTube video was published 6 years ago! Then Michael, Michael and Andy talk about a much more recent BMW promo video (published last week) for the i Vision DEE, and how the full windshield becomes an AR display, which is possibly too immersive for the driver. Rounding out this segment is a story about LEGO’s focus on the metaverse and their hiring plans.
Longtime listeners of the podcast know that not only are AR, metaverse, AI and LEGO well-loved topics, but also creative uses of Doom and Minecraft. The latest Doom story is a VR version of Zelda that combines the Legend of Doom mod that was applied to QuestZDoom which makes Doom playable on a Meta Quest. This is followed by an Arduino powered project to allow a user to walk around in real life, which simultaneously controls the movement of the associated avatar in the Minecraft world.
Wrapping up this most excellent episode, Andy, Michael and Michael discuss the news about Dungeons and Dragons and the reported/leaked updated version of the Open Gaming License (OGL). The D&D community has been up in arms about the proposed changes, concerned about the impact on the creative content developed under the current version of the OGL going back 22 years. After the recording of the episode, there was news from Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons addressing the outrage at the OGL 1.1, and several articles are included in the show notes below reporting on the next steps.
Wrapping up the momentous episode on the lighter side the co-hosts remark on @AlexBlechman’s post about how AI bots in the future will play games for you to free up your valuable time for more work. We couldn’t say it better ourselves here at Games At Work dot Biz.
Should the Games at Work team skip episode 404? 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.
The Furby source code is public and heavily commented. For example, it turns the microphone off when the motors are running.
Furby was the 1998 version of ChatGPT and tons of people thought it actually slowly learned English words. The NSA was alarmed. However it turned out the "learning" process was just on a timer and the "microphone" only triggers on loud sounds. https://archive.org/details/furby-source
Hi @Wizards_DnD. I canceled my @DnDBeyond subscription. I love the site, #1 reason I kept playing your game (not the other way around). But with OGL 1.1, I'm moving to other systems now. Look at my game room. I bought everything you put out. Not buying any more. #OpenDnD#ttrpgpic.twitter.com/20LYK1LhFD
In the future AI technology will play video games for us. You'll say "Computer, play Doom" and a message will pop up saying "You have won Doom." This will free up valuable time for doing more work
In this episode, Michael, Andy and Michael all get together for the first episode of the year. Starting off with a Wired UK article on becoming “metaverse ready”, the co-hosts have an intriguing discussion on the savings and speed that comes from rendering 3D objects. This reminds Andy about Webspaces, a new kind of website that uses HTML to create 3D worlds in addition to 2D pages.
CES 2023 was in full swing the previous week in Las Vegas, and there was a surge of articles about the various and sundry innovations announced at this year’s event. First up, Diver-X’s #ContactGlove with IRL haptic feedback for objects you hold in-world. Then, a detailed report from MacRumors about the Apple mixed reality headset. From the automotive world, an announcement from Mercedes-Benz building 10,000 electric vehicle charging points throughout Europe, North America and China. BMW showcased i Vision Dee to bring augmented reality to the entire windshield, and also e-ink exterior displays allowing for changing the vehicle’s appearance. The cohosts marveled at the 16 inch foldable Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold. Samsung announced an AI powered oven with a camera to allow users to livestream their cooks while they are in progress. Michael R remembers the June Oven which also has a camera.
Be sure to check out the links below for more details on each of these innovations! Bonus for 2023: Michael R did not go to CES, so no CES sickness for him this year!
The cohosts wrap things up with a cool (very cool) story from LEGO enthusiast Brickcrafts who built a LEGO snow plow train, and tested it with some very fluffy snow.
Does your bot have a question for the Games At Work team for the new year? 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.
This is the home of Webspaces, a new kind of website that uses HTML to create 3D worlds in addition to 2D pages. Webspaces are made up of static HTML files. https://webspaces.space/introduction.html
