Games At Work dot Biz

Picture by Michael Martine, Dennis, MA, August 2026 Published 31 August 2026 e566 with Michael M and Andy who strive to make fetch happen with AI podcast search and news aggregation, spoof computers (Mactini & MacBook Wheel), Doom ports & mods, Flying Toasters, falling Acme anvils and a whole lot more! Michael M and Andy get together while Michael R is away, starting and ending the episode with some classic lines from stage and screen. Michael M is freshly back from seeing the Cape Playhouse’s rendition of Mean Girls, which was such a delight. Turning then to AI – the cohosts start off with a story about making podcasts searchable and usable by AI agents. This reminds Andy of Particle, an app that both he and Michael use occasionally to review the news. Next, they both use the Cringebot 3000 to make up some LinkedIn posts. Then, a series of hacks – beginning with a super fun one, the Apple Mactini, not to be confused with Dr. Dorian from Scrubs favorite drink – the appletini.  The Mactini is not a watered down cocktail, rather it is a one button computer that Tucker Osman made based on the spoof of an Apple TV commercial from 20 years ago, and that remained true to the spoof in it’s function.  The Onion made a spoof of a click wheel (from the iPod) Mac in 2009 – and you can see that video in in the notes below.  After checking out a number of LEGO gaming PCs, Andy shares the story of the eenk firmware for Xteink devices to create the choose your own adventure games we’ve been sharing on the podcast recently. Longtime listeners will know that the Games at Work team collects Doom stories, and for this episode, there are a couple of new examples.  There’s a story about Doom running on the EMFCamp Tildagon Badge, a mod called Mr. Friendly whose objective is to help the monsters recover from the latest space marine rampage, and an article about Anthropic’s Claude playing the game. Closing out the show, Andy and Michael take a look at a port of the After Dark screen savers which you can now experience again thanks to Afterglow.  They also look at a review of the Coyote vs Acme film that is premiering, and the linkage to Looney Tunes, and Ben Moor’s talk entitled “Pronoun Trouble”. And, as mentioned at the start of the show notes, the ending for the episode ties everything up with an Elmer Fudd bow where we is hunting Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and Daffy of course utters the classic line in his classic voice, “You’re despicable.” What is your favorite Acme product?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (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 Mean Girls @ The Cape Playhouse Mean Girls 2026 AI TechCrunch article: Radar makes podcasts searchable — and usable by AI agents Particle.news LinkedIn CringeBot 3000 Hacks hackster.io article: The Apple Mactini Just Became a Real Computer Games at Work e529: Shake, Shake, Shake Your iPhone (for the Onion MacBook Wheel) Brick Fanatics article: New LEGO gaming PCs revealed, and you can make them at home eenk custom firmware for the Xteink ESP32 series of e-ink reader devices Doom Mr. Friendly Hackaday article: Claude Plays Doom Miscellany Afterglow for After Dark Flying Toasters Games at Work e382: Know it when I see it (for the creepy AI generated flying toaster) IGN article: Coyote vs. Acme Review Ben Moor post: Pronoun Trouble Rabbit Fire (1951) on r/looneytunes (for the Rabbit Season, Duck Season bit, which is such a classic)

Photo by Zac Taheriyan on Unsplash Published 10 August 2026 e564 with Michael, Andy and Michael – a spider filled episode with AdTech and lifesaving robotic implications, VR Mario Kart, quantum lawn mowing, identity management and a whole lot more! Michael, Andy and Michael begin the episode with Spider-Man showing up in an unexpected place – a BMW infotainment system!  The negative reactions from the articles and cohosts were not surprising.  The team have discussed ads you don’t want showing up where you don’t want them – like on automotive windshields, in AR, and more – see e481 from 2024 in the links below for more on this. The team shifts to a more enjoyable driving experience, where Andy describes what he did to enable a VR version of Mario Kart.  Next up – a reflection on 30 years of Quake with an anniversary release.  Then, appealing to the team’s sensibilities on mowing lawns and penchant for NP quantum problems, a lawn mowing optimization game from Pudding.   Switching from software to hardware, the cohosts take a look at a surprising smaller than expected device called the Octopus 16 which measures EEG brain signals to allow the user to control a computer.  See the show notes below for the original box for the Emotiv headset from the July 2015 kickstarter. Then, the titular post for this show, a new robot based on nature for rescuing people who are drowning.  The inspiration for this robot was a fishing spider who walks on water to capture its prey.  Your show notes thankfully do not include pictures of such spiders, though if you click through to the Arxiv paper, there is a picture, so consider yourself warned.  While not discussed in this episode, Dr. Kate Darling’s book The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots explores social and ethical themes on robotics that fit nicely into this theme.  Michael M had a chance to hear her speak at Duke earlier this year and an article about that talk is included in the notes below. Rounding out the show, the team wraps up with an identity service from Meta called Facebook Verified.  This free service is intended to help identify when a person is a human and distinguish from AI agents.  The cohosts shared thoughts about this topic and the service before the recording time was exhausted. Aside from spiders, what other robotic form factors based on the animal and insect kingdom would you want to see?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (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 Friendly, Neighborhood (Automotive) AdTech Consumer Rights Wiki post: BMW Spider-Man in-car advertising Techspot article: BMW is putting Spider-Man ads on your dashboard, after promising it never would Games at Work e481 — Services You Don’t Need (for ads you don’t want and hyper-reality) Driving, Quaking & Mowing Simulations Retrododo article: Mario Kart VR Puts You In the Driving Seat Through Classic N64 Courses Bethesda article: Quake – 30th Anniversary Update Kottke post: Are You Good at Mowing Lawns? Pudding post: Why some people mow a lawn better than others Arxiv paper: Solving The Travelling Salesman Problem Using A Single Qubit CNX-Software post: Play games with your brain signals using Octopus 16 wireless EEG device Games at Work post from July 2015 – Getting All Emotiv(tional) (for the Emotiv headset) Spiders & More Multi-Legged Things hackster.io article: A Spider-Inspired Robot Built to Save Drowning Victims Arxiv paper: Design and Control of the “QuadBoat”: A Quadruped Surface Vehicle for Drowning Rescue (warning – spider photo in this paper!) No link to fishing spiders.  You’re welcome. Duke Sanford School of Public Policy article: Wilson Lecture: Kate Darling brings joy, humor, and urgency to a conversation about humans and robots Identity Management (or not) The New World article: 2026 – the year fakes finally broke social media Meta post: Introducing Facebook Verified

Photo by Michael Martine, Hamptonville, North Carolina, Oct 2018 Published 27 July 2026 e562 with Andy and Michael M – EMFCamp recap, whole lot of LEGO love, the game of life, a Playdate mini MMO, AR assisted murals and a whole lot more! Andy and Michael M start off with a recap of Andy’s experiences at EMF Camp while Michael R is away for this episode.  Andy shares his experiences, describes the “Monumental GameBoy”, how visitors to his campsite enjoyed playing his LEGO pinball machine and his updates to the EMF badge (such as Pigs in Space!).  Check out the show notes below for a few visual links, including the Joust game for the Tildagon badge and more.  Michael M went to an event at a local arcade in Chapel Hill and only noticed as he was leaving that they too had a Joust cabinet game. Andrzej Marczewski wrote an article in gamified.uk about the game of life – not the one by Hasbro or Conway – rather the game of life itself with resources to manage and protect.   Andy and Michael enjoyed Andrzej’s take, especially how he treated progress and score.  Going from the macro to the micro, the team also took a look at the Playdate miniMMO PointlessQuest.  Andy may give this a shot on his Playdate soon!  Next, it’s on to LEGO, and there are so many new cool drops from Billund. Andy already mentioned his pinball table during the EMF recap. After checking out the playable Donkey Kong game, the pair then takes a look at the new Star Trek Enterprise 1701 bridge. With 8 minifigs from the original series, and features such as the rocking command chair, transporter room actions and troubling Tribbles, there’s something for every Star Trek fan. And the team just loved just how many LEGO bricks it took to make the Enterprise bridge set. Then, Andy and Michael take a look at how an artist created a mural using sketchar.io augmented reality – just like using transparencies and an overhead projector from days of yore. If that doesn’t ring a bell, have a look at the YouTube from the Computer History Museum below. Many thanks to @[email protected] for sharing this mural designing video with us! Who is your favorite original Star Trek character?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (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 It’s Electric! Electromagnetic Field Festival 2026 Wikipedia article: Chaos Communication Camp Makertube post: Snapper – a mechanical arcade machine based on Paku Paku. New at EMF Camp 2026 Tildagon Badge Documentation Joustagon – Johann Sebastian Joust on the Tildagon Club-Mate Games at Work e560: Sweating the Small Stuff (for EMFCamp prep) Massive & Tiny Games Life Has Stats: What Games Teach Us About Progresshttps://www.gamified.uk/2026/07/18/life-has-stats-what-games-teach-us-about-progress/ #gamification — Andrzej Marczewski (@[email protected])2026-07-18T07:31:22.054Z Gamified UK article: Life Has Stats: What Games Teach Us About Progress 404 Media article: We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’ Wikipedia article: Conway’s Game of Life Wikipedia article: The Game of Life The Verge article: The tiniest MMO PointlessQuest by Gareth Williams LEGO LEGO Icons Arcade Pinball Machine #11374 The Verge article: Lego’s Donkey Kong arcade machine lets Mario jump endless barrels — Miyamoto is reportedly happy LEGO Icons Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701™ Bridge #11385 AR Painting by Numbers @gamesatwork_biz Augmenting the outdoor artistic efforts… via tech {Met a few artists who achieve even larger scale projects with manual place-markers & mind-craft} https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZsltTzhunw/ — 𝓛𝔁𝓼 / 𝔸𝕝𝕖𝕩𝕚𝕤 🏵🇪🇺💫 (@[email protected])2026-07-16T07:38:39.224Z Instagram post by faridisartwork sketchar As seen on TV New, exclusive, by me: LG to Ban Residential Proxy Providers from Smart TV Apps The home appliance giant LG Electronics USA said this week it plans to suspend any apps built for its smart TVs that turn one’s television into an always-on residential proxy node. The move comes less than a month after researchers found that more than 42 percent of games and other apps available for download on LG’s webOS store allow unknown third-parties to route their Internet traffic through a user’s TV. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps/ #smarttv #lg #residentialproxies #spur #security — BrianKrebs (@[email protected])2026-07-22T01:12:48.388Z Krebs on Security article: LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps Techdirt article: Sony Deletes A Bunch More Movies From The Accounts Of People Who ‘Bought’ Them