e549 with Andy, Michael and Michael – boldly go into a deep set of space discussions featuring Artemis II, ways to keep track of the historic flight, COTS software and hardware aboard the spacecraft, Bernie Sanders conversation with Claude, TU Wien’s mini QR code and a whole lot more!
Andy, Michael and Michael boldly go into a deep set of space discussions focusing on the launch of Artemis II. Mission Control starts off with the Artemis II Tracker built by Jakob Rosin for Jakob Rosin, and as he says, every other space nerd who stayed up for launch night. The tracker is a fantastic assembly of data related to the mission, and is well worth bookmarking to keep up to speed on the progress of the astronauts as they approach the Moon and make their return journey to Earth.
Andy, Michael and Michael take a look at an article describing how COTS (commercial, off the shelf) technology are used in space missions, and the steps needed to ensure such technologies are appropriate for the mission. It is no surprise that iPhone use aboard Artemis II caught the co-hosts’ attention, and after recording the episode, they found even more insight on how the iPhone 17 Pro Max was cleared for use. Another COTS technology used aboard the spacecraft was email – and also needed some glitches to be resolved.
Other interesting stories came from the Gizmodo article, such as the pre-launch card game which continues until the mission commander loses, and the challenges with the Universal Waste Management System that were initially resolved in Earth orbit, through another issue surfaced later in the voyage with the vent line. At time of this writing, all systems to go with the Universal Waste Management System were rated as ‘go’. The Moon plush named Rise, which acts as a zero gravity indicator, was designed by a second grader named Lucas Ye.
In the non-space portion of the episode, the team discusses browsergate, Bernie Sanders’ conversation with Claude and a mini QR code from the TU Wein that could help store up to 2TB of data on an A4 sized page!
Wrapping up the episode, Andy shares his contact information through his aggregation site of andypiper.me
Do you think that the orange color of the iPhone 17 Pro Max matched the uniform color of the Artemis crew? Have you placed your order for a copy of Rise? 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.
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: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper
Language: en-us
Episodes: 50
Photo from the International Space Station 1 April 2026 of the exhaust plume from Artemis II in Earth’s atmosphere – NASA ID: iss074e0431736 Published 20 April 2026 e551 with Michael, Michael and Andy – a tour of the Atm…
Mashup of photo by Victor Serban on Unsplash & images-assets.nasa.gov/image/art002e009287/art002e009287~orig.jpg Published 13 April 2026 e550 with Michael, Andy and Michael – celebrating Moon Joy with the Artemis II crew…
Photo by NEOM on Unsplash Published 23 March 2026 e548 with Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on uncomfortable valley & uncanny valley, Nintendo’s Talking Flower, 8bit Pixel Agents for AI orchestration and a w…
Photo by Michael Martine, Chapel Hill, NC March 2026 Published 16 March 2026 e547 with Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on bot to bot communications, 50 years of Apple, LEGO SmartPlay SmartBricks and a whole…
Published 9 March 2026 e543 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on LEGO’s new Smart Play brick, this is a human brain (cells) on Doom, orc audio for vibe coding, Liquid Death’s Spotify urn for playlis…
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash Published 2 March 2026 e545 with Andy and Michael – Get to talk about mostly non-AI topics this week, as we look at a cool kickstarter, Titan, that is building out a futuristic ga…
Photo by Masahiro Naruse on Unsplash Published 23 February 2026 e544 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on rumoured AI devices, addictive predictives, listening through bananas (or mud), and what hap…
Photo by Viktor Keri on Unsplash Published 16 February 2026 e543 with Andy, Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on Agentic AI and the changing nature of work, agents renting humans, real time translation, artist…
Photo by Mihai 👑 on Unsplash Published 9 February 2026 e542 with Michael, Andy and Michael – Stories and discussion on programming language localization, Virtual Boy hardware & emulation, LEGO terrestrial & orbital dwell…
edited picture from Lars H Knudsen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-shot-of-a-llama-7845603/ Published 2 February 2026 e541 with Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on AI with local Claude (and Clawdbot,…
