e514 — Leroooooy Jenkins!

e514 — Leroooooy Jenkins!

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper May 19, 2025 Duration: 36:50
World of WarCraft Burning Crusade in foreground with a cute cat in the background
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 Michael M is away, Michael R and Andy start off with some generative AI topics: advertisements and LEGO.  Per the Ars Technica article, Netflix has announced it has created GenAI advertising that it will show during streaming video in 2026.  And some exciting news in the GenAI space for LEGO – a model that generates stable (not diffuse!) LEGO structures from text prompts.

Next up: several Apple stories, starting with Aston Martin working with Apple’s CarPlay Ultra, which combines data and visualizations from the car as well as from the iPhone. Then, some articles on Apple’s Vision Pro, since the launch, and new capabilities allowing scrolling in a new way.

Then, Michael R and Andy share a cornucopia of fun.  A website with the first few of 10,000 drum machines.  A fixer of broken QR codes.  A web-based team driving game called Internet Roadtrip, reminiscent of Twitch Plays Pokemon, and a little like Desert Bus too.  And especially a reflection on the 20th anniversary of Leroy Jenkins.  Do check out the article in the show notes  below, and see also the embedded story from 20 years ago.

What’s your favorite Leroy Jenkins story?  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

Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026
Netflix is trying to grow ad revenue quickly.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0

— Ars Technica (@arstechnica@mastodon.social)
2025-05-14T20:49:34.591Z

Ars Technica article: Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026

PC Mag article: LegoGPT Eliminates AI Weirdness, Creates Brick Designs You Can Actually Build

arXiv paper: Generating Physically Stable and Buildable LEGO Designs from Text

Huggingface: LegoGPT Demo

Apple

Wall Street Journal article: They Paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts.

Bloomberg article: Apple Readies Feature That Lets Vision Pro Users Scroll With Their Eyes

The Verge article: Apple will let the Vision Pro ‘see’ for you

Fun Stuff

10k Drum Machines

HumanQR

Adafruit blog post: Need to get away? Take an Internet Roadtrip!

Neal.Fun Internet Road Trip

Games at Work e77: (Hive)Mind Blowing for multiplayer Pokemon

NPR All Tech Considered article: Here’s What Happens When Thousands Play Pokemon Together

Desert Bus Express 2025

PC Gamer article: WoW’s Leeroy Jenkins, one of the internet’s oldest memes, turns 20 years old—and after looking back on what we wrote in 2005, I feel like we’ve failed Leeroys everywhere

Rock Paper Shotgun article: Doom: The Dark Ages review


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
e531 – Games and Such [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:02
Epredator created AI Generated image Michael R and Ian “Epredator” Hughes get together for a chat about #gaming, #VR, and #technology. We talk about some of our favorite comfort games, how they are procedurally generated…
e530 — Vibe It! - Ready Player Chum [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:47
Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-robot-toy-on-gray-concrete-floor-9026299/ Published 29 September 2025 e530 with Michael and Michael – an AI extravaganza with vibe coding, AI gaming c…
e529 — Shake, Shake, Shake Your iPhone [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:12
Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash Published 15 September 2025 e529 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories about AR glasses & snarky AI wearables, Carrot Weather, Rabbit OS2, shaking to summarize, Doomscrolling and a who…
e528 — Monstrous Mice & Nano Bananas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:59
ChatGPT 5 generated image of a banana in the midst of an atom cloudgenerated 31 August 2025 Published 8 September 2025 e528 with Michael, Andy and Michael – stories about AI image editing with Nano Banana, GAN enabled LL…
e527 — AI Taco Trolls [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:06
Photo by Daniel Hooper 🌊 on Unsplash Published 1 September 2025 e527 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stories about AI restaurant experiences, historical LLMs, zoetropes and a whole lot more. After Michael R gives his im…
e526 — Beans and Bricks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:24
Photo by Michael Martine, Chapel Hill, NC August 2025 Published 25 August 2025 e526 with Andy and Michael M – stories about focus – finding things that are missing, reducing distractions with apps like Focus Friend and B…
e525 – See Thru Wooden Pixels [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:02
Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash The Michaels take some time to talk about AI, Apple and Gaming this week, while Andy is out. While we are not an all Michael podcast, we did see a few Mike posts on Mastodon from Mike El…
e524 — Googlenight, AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:14
Googlenight, AI virtual book cover Published 11 August 2025 e524 with Andy and Michael M – stories about AI generated goodnight stories, Med-Gemini, GPT-5, skeuomorphism, scrobbling, seeing through doors and a whole lot…
e523 — Two hundred and sixty six starlings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:42
Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash Published 4 August 2025 e523 with Michael R and Andy, possibly arriving via carefully-arranged starlings? – stories about AI again, obviously; iPadOS 26; games, old and new; and, an inno…
e522 — Pointing at Doomed Fish [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:58
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash Published 28 July 2025 e522 with Michael M and Andy – stories about AI in multiple forms: bees that listen, a cat that chats, and then some fun with animating fish you draw, a GameBoy you…