e552 — Norwegian Blue Vision

e552 — Norwegian Blue Vision

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper May 4, 2026 Duration: 26:52
A very alive parrot with beautiful blue plumage, not kipping on its back.
Photo by Shannon Potter on Unsplash

Published 4 May 2026

e552 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on AI, life on Mars, life of the Vision Pro, retro C64s and a whole lot more!

Andy, Michael and Michael get things started with a brace of AI articles dealing with with a wide variety of topics.  First up is Meta’s use of employee activities on their corporate computers to train their AI models.  Then, a discussion on the SpaceX and Cursor business deal.  Next, a conversation on a breach to access the Claude Mythos model.  Interspersed with these is a discovery by NASA’s Curiosity rover finding organic molecules on Mars.

With a number of articles claiming, and paraphrasing here, that the Vision Pro is bereft of life, shuffled up its mortal coil and joined the choir invisible, Michael Rowe shares his perspective on the subject.  His says his Vision Pro is not an Ex-Vision Pro.

The cohosts go retro – as they are wont to do – with a flock of posts about all things Commodore.  Links below if you are curious and want to see what these devices look like.

While no Artemis II image for this week’s episode, do check out the minifigs.me offering of the crew, along with the jar of “Studella” in the links below.  There are a couple of additional bonus links that the cohosts didn’t have time to include in the episode that prove that we can have nice things.

What is your quest? What is your favorite Monty Python sketch? 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

The Verge article: Now Meta will track what employees do on their computers to train its AI agents

Futurism article: Your Former Employer Is Selling Your Slacks and Emails to Train AI

Anthropic news post: Introducing Claude Design by Anthropic Labs

The Verge article: SpaceX cuts a deal to maybe buy Cursor for $60 billion

kottke.org post: NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules on Mars

Wikipedia article: Marvin the Martian 

The Verge article: Anthropic’s most dangerous AI model just fell into the wrong hands

Apple Vision Pro & more

Mac Rumors article: Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop

Six Colors article: The Vision Pro: Not quite dead yet

Wikipedia article: Dead Parrot Sketch

lifewinning.com post: Alchemy Studies

Will It Blend

Games

Retrododo article: Factory 95 Sees Players Building PowerPoint Factories In Windows 95

Ravensburger Labyrinth

The Verge article: The Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum have been turned into retrofuturistic handhelds

Commodore C64 Ultimate

Games at Work e223: CES and C64 (for the Commodore 

retrogames.biz

Bonus Links

minifigs.me Artemis II Crew with Studtella!

People Magazine article: How Tiny Vending Machines Have Created a Resurgence in Popularity of Richard Scarry’s Busytown Universe (Exclusive)

FastCompany article: KitKat’s newest product is … a Faraday cage?

Slashfilm article: Ted Lasso Season 4 Trailer: Apple TV’s Comedy Series Returns With A New Football Team


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: 53

Games At Work dot Biz
Podcast Episodes
e554 — SPI vs I [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:44
Photo by Valérie Ungerer on Unsplash Published 18 May 2026 e554 with Michael and Michael – stories and discussion on LLM phone number lookups, proctors returning to Princeton, lavish LEGO, LOTR and a whole lot more! Whil…
e553 — Monks, Bots & Ghosts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:36
Stories and discussion on a robot monk, the Dead Internet Theory, agentic autonomy, Happy Net Box, the Artemis II minifig.me crew and a whole lot more!
e551 — ATProto Socials [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:38
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…
e550 — Moontella [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:42
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…
e549 — Dark Side of the Moon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:00
NASA photo art002e009057, 4 April 2026 Published 6 April 2026 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 sof…
e548 — The Uncomfortable Valley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:34
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…
e547 — Bricktastic [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:00
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…
e546 — Smart Play Doom Brain Brick [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:12
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…
e545 – Cyberpunk pot holes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:42
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…
e544 — Are We Bananas? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:35
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…