e538 — MagSafe Stacking

e538 — MagSafe Stacking

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper January 12, 2026 Duration: 30:47
cairn with quartz and other rocks on a trail in Blowing Rock, NC
Photo by Michael Martine, Blowing Rock, NC 2022

Published 12 January 2026

e538 with Michael, Michael and Andy – Stories and discussion on CES2026, EuroTech, PhoneTech, AI playing your games for you so you can watch and a whole lot more.

Andy, Michael and Michael take a look at many of the announcements from CES, and share a few of their favorites.  CES is the annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, Nevada.  In the phone technology arena, there are several MagSafe examples that magnetically snap onto an iPhone, such as charger that looks kind of like a floppy disk.  Another example is a keyboard, with tactile buttons you can type with in portrait or landscape mode.  The keyboard creates a form factor that is reminiscent of the Danger Hiptop / Sidekick.  Between these examples and others (like a second screen e-reader that snaps to the back of a phone), the cohosts mull what it would be like to stack several of them in sequence.

After discussing the Punkt phone, and the Proton suite enabled by the AphyOS, the team turns their attention to several other innovations shared at CES.  Lollypops that play music, a vibrating chef’s knife, and the Lepro AMI AI companion all caught their eye.  The Lepro AMI seems similar, at least in the form factor, to the Gatebox, which was first discussed on Games at Work back in 2017.

Next, the team takes a look at a fork of a decompilation of SuperMario 64, where the developer added a physical coin slot and updated the code to allow for micro transactions with physical money.  Then, following on a post from Mike Elgan, the co-hosts consider an article about Sony’s patent to take over a player’s avatar in case they get stuck and want help to continue their game.  It’s kind of like your own personal AI Twitch channel.  The Games at Work team considered a similar story about Microsoft’s gaming Copilot in 2025.

Speaking of Microsoft, Michael M got excited about the potential triumphant return of Clippy, only to realize that it was clickbait.  

Would you like to have an AI show you how to get past a tricky game boss, or play through it for you?  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

CES2026

www.ces.tech The Consumer Electronics Show

Retrododo article: This Adorable Floppy Disk MagSafe Battery Pack Is My New EDC Fave

KBDcraft.store Kit Shamshel Mouse

Liliputing article: Clicks Power Keyboard is a magnetic thumb keyboard & wireless power bank for your phone

ohsnap.com: MCON, the magnetic transforming gaming controller

Vice article: The Sidekick Was Pop Culture’s Most Stylish and Innovative Cellphone

Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Notebooks

punkt.ch blog post: Punkt. unveils MC03, latest version of its unique smartphone offering giving users full control over personal data and usage.

AphyOS

Mashable article: The weirdest tech of CES: It gets very weird, very fast

Games at Work e520: Cold Fusion Gaming (for the Gatebox virtual companion)

tech.eu article: CES 2026 showcases Europe’s hardware renaissance

Reverse Engineering Microtransactions into Retro Games

Hackaday article: Super Mario 64, Now With Microtransactions

AI

Sony AI plays video games, so you don't have to! futurism.com/artificial-intell

— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan@mastodon.social)
2026-01-09T01:30:33.730Z

WIPO Patentscope : WO2025080356 – AI GENERATED GHOST PLAYER

Games at Work e530: Vibe It!  Ready Player Chum (for Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot)

PCWorld article: Microsoft pushes huge Copilot update with features like Clippy 2.0

Microsoft blog: Meet Copilot Mode in Edge: Your AI browser


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
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Duration: 35:24
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e525 – See Thru Wooden Pixels [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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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…
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Duration: 28:14
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e523 — Two hundred and sixty six starlings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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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]

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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…
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…