e564 with Michael, Andy and Michael – a spider filled episode with AdTech and lifesaving robotic implications, VR Mario Kart, quantum lawn mowing, identity management and a whole lot more!
Michael, Andy and Michael begin the episode with Spider-Man showing up in an unexpected place – a BMW infotainment system! The negative reactions from the articles and cohosts were not surprising. The team have discussed ads you don’t want showing up where you don’t want them – like on automotive windshields, in AR, and more – see e481 from 2024 in the links below for more on this.
The team shifts to a more enjoyable driving experience, where Andy describes what he did to enable a VR version of Mario Kart. Next up – a reflection on 30 years of Quake with an anniversary release. Then, appealing to the team’s sensibilities on mowing lawns and penchant for NP quantum problems, a lawn mowing optimization game from Pudding.
Switching from software to hardware, the cohosts take a look at a surprising smaller than expected device called the Octopus 16 which measures EEG brain signals to allow the user to control a computer. See the show notes below for the original box for the Emotiv headset from the July 2015 kickstarter.
Then, the titular post for this show, a new robot based on nature for rescuing people who are drowning. The inspiration for this robot was a fishing spider who walks on water to capture its prey. Your show notes thankfully do not include pictures of such spiders, though if you click through to the Arxiv paper, there is a picture, so consider yourself warned. While not discussed in this episode, Dr. Kate Darling’s book The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots explores social and ethical themes on robotics that fit nicely into this theme. Michael M had a chance to hear her speak at Duke earlier this year and an article about that talk is included in the notes below.
Rounding out the show, the team wraps up with an identity service from Meta called Facebook Verified. This free service is intended to help identify when a person is a human and distinguish from AI agents. The cohosts shared thoughts about this topic and the service before the recording time was exhausted.
Aside from spiders, what other robotic form factors based on the animal and insect kingdom would you want to see? 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
e526 with Andy and Michael M - stories about #focus - finding things that are missing, reducing distractions with apps like #FocusFriend and #Brick, viewing photo collections with #PhotoDome, Andy’s talk at #FrOSCon2025…
e524 with Andy and Michael M - stories and discussion on #AI generated #goodnight stories, #Med-Gemini, #GPT-5, #Macrowave, #scrobbling, #skeuomorphism and more!
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 with Michael M and Andy - stories and discussion on #AI with #bees that listen & a #cat that #chats and then some fun drawing #fish, anticipating a #LEGO #GameBoy build and more!
e521 with Andy, Michael and Michael - stories about expressive robots (#ShoggothMini, #Apple #ELEGNT, #SpiRob & #facehugger), newly reengineered computer reboots (#Commodore & #Sinclair), #Seagate’s 30TB drives and a who…
e520 with Michael, Andy and Michael - stories about #AI #advertising, still #photo #animation, #anime #agents, #PollenRobotics, #Unity #tokamak #fusion reactor #DigitalTwin. #LEGO and a whole lot more.
e519 with Michael, Andy and Michael - stories about #AI conversations with #pets and people, #LLM #DataRetention, #AISlop, #Clippy-esque prompts, #AIWorkloads in #space and a whole lot more.
e518 with Michael, Michael and Andy - stories about Atari adjacent AI, a new Emotiv experience, Midjourney video magic, Bondi blue, visionOS persona improvements, the Nex Playground and a whole lot more.
