e509 — Maverick and Marbles

e509 — Maverick and Marbles

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper April 14, 2025 Duration: 32:10
two brown llamas in a field
Photo by Josiah Farrow on Unsplash

Published 14 April 2025

e509 with Michael and Michael – stories and discussion all around AI, LLMs, llamas, generated Quake, grokking, generalization and much more.

Michael and Michael get things rolling while Andy is away with a series of AI stories, beginning with Siri, continuing on to the latest iteration of Meta’s Llama 4 models, Scout and Maverick.  Following on the llama theme, Michael R is reminded of the intro credits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  After reflecting on an AI generated version of Quake, Michael and Michael turn to an article from the MIT Technology Review, which explores how models would all of a sudden be able to complete a task without a clear explanation as to why.  This made Michael M think about a Ted Talk describing how some polyglots acquire languages – check out Lýdia Machová’s talk below for more.

The team touches on the latest app from IconFactory called Tapestry.  Tapestry allows users to follow people across a multiplicity of social services, and eliminate duplicate posts.  Then, they consider the AR capabilities of the Zeiss Holographic Transparent Display technology.  Last up, is the Busy Bar, a device to help others know that you are not in an interruptible state.  Check out the bonus links below to find the Rube Goldberg marbles-powered device that influenced the name of the episode.

What information would you most like to see in your airplane window?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (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

AI

9 to 5 Mac article: Craig Federighi’s leadership has already resulted in this major Siri pivot, per report

Visual Studio IDE: AI-assisted development in Visual Studio

The Verge article: Meta got caught gaming AI benchmarks

Intro Credits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Verge article: Microsoft has created an AI-generated version of Quake

Wikipedia article: Quake

MIT Technology Review article: Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

arXiv paper: DEEP DOUBLE DESCENT: WHERE BIGGER MODELS AND MORE DATA HURT

arXiV paper: UNDERSTANDING DEEP LEARNING REQUIRES RE-THINKING GENERALIZATION

Boy Genius Report article: This is the difference between how humans and AI ‘think’

OpenReview: Evaluating the Robustness of Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models

Cool Stuff

:tapestry_app: Tapestry 1.1 brings a host of great new features: Follow individual accounts & lists on Bluesky & Mastodon, automatically remove duplicates from the timeline with Crosstalk, and quickly switch your timelines with Tapestry’s redesigned navigation.

Learn more about these features plus dozens of other improvements in today's FREE update of Tapestry – Your personal timeline app.

blog.iconfactory.com/2025/04/t

— The Iconfactory (@Iconfactory@iconfactory.world)
2025-04-08T15:33:42.712Z

Iconfactory blog post: Tapestry: What’s New? No Déjà Vu!

Popular Science article: Smart glass windows would beam in-flight info over scenic views

Busy Bar

Bonus Links: More Cool Stuff 

The Verge article: Samsung is finally releasing Ballie

The Verge article: You can build these marble runs and connect them to your smart home over Wi-Fi

Wikipedia article: Rube Goldberg

The Verge article: 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive


The weekly conversation hosted by Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, and Andy Piper, Games At Work dot Biz, explores the intersection where our digital play and professional lives collide. This isn't just a review show; it's a deep dive into the technology that powers our hobbies, the business behind the leisure, and the cultural news shaping both worlds. Each episode feels like pulling up a chair with three friends who are as passionate about the craft of game development and the evolution of hardware as they are about the pure joy of finding a great new title. You'll hear specific discussions on everything from the latest graphics card impacting performance to the narrative design of an indie darling, all filtered through the lens of professionals who live in the tech space. The Games At Work dot Biz podcast operates on the belief that the games we play and the tools we use are inextricably linked, offering listeners a consistently thoughtful and engaging analysis that goes far beyond a simple score. Tune in for a regular dose of insightful commentary where the serious business of technology meets the serious fun of games.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Games At Work dot Biz
Podcast Episodes
e521 — We Like Big Drives [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:35
Photo by benjamin lehman on Unsplash Published 21 July 2025 e521 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stories about expressive robots (Shoggoth Mini, Apple ELEGNT, SpiRob & facehugger), newly reengineered Commodore & Sinclai…
e520 — Cold Fusion Gaming [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:13
original photo, by Michael Martine, Sandwich MA June 2025. Animated by Google Veo3 July 2025 Published 14 July 2025 e520 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories about AI advertising, still photo animation, anime agents,…
e519 — Clippy Kittens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:56
Photo by Mike Stimpson on Unsplash Published 30 June 2025 e519 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories about AI conversations with pets and people, LLM data retention, AI slop, Clippy-esque prompts, AI workloads in spac…
e518 — The Old Ones Are The Best [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:19
Photo by Boris Langvand on Unsplash Published 23 June 2025 e518 with Andy, Michael, and Michael – stories about Atari adjacent AI, a new Emotiv experience, Midjourney video magic, Bondi blue, visionOS persona improvement…
e517 — Where Every AI Knows Your Name [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:07
Photo by Hasnain Sikora on Unsplash Published 9 June 2025 e517 with Michael, Michael and Andy – stories about Atarino microcomputing, AI through movie and television metaphor, AR running, screens and zombies, Skyrim Gran…
e516 — Model Behavior [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:06
Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash Published 2 June 2025 e516 with Michael and Michael – AI prompts, browsers, model collapse & automation along with a teeny tiny pico Mac nano, and a whole lot more. While Andy is away, Mi…
e515 — Seeing Through Walls [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:52
Photo by Mihály Köles on Unsplash Published 26 May 2025 e515 with Andy, Michael and Michael – the Fortnite Darth Vader NPC, IO, both from Google and Open AI, AI hardware, an intriguing Vision Pro use case, infrared conta…
e514 — Leroooooy Jenkins! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:50
Photo by WTFast on Unsplash Published 19 May 2025 e514 with Michael R and Andy – generative ads & LEGO, Aston Martin x Apple CarPlay Ultra, new Vision Pro UX, an Internet Roadtrip, Leroy Jenkins and so much more. While M…
e513 — Not Dead Yet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:26
Photo by Hande B. on Unsplash Published 12 May 2025 e513 with Michael and Michael – Clippy + LLMs, social AI, first person video, Duck, Pong & other games, and so much more. While Andy is away, Michael and Michael start…
e512 — Sounds Good, On Paper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:58
Cartoon versions of Andy and Michael M, generated by ChatGPT Published 5 May 2025 e512 with Andy and Michael – E Ink monitors, Agent run companies & towns, winning arguments with AI assistants, pixellating reality and mu…