We go thru the week's links: Life by You's open approach to modding, dragon based table top games, and a gaming studio supports other from indie developers.

AI assistants that never forget, Humane’s AI Pin, training LLMs, Dyson’s example of using AR to gamify vacuuming, and persona updates for the Apple Vision Pro

Security, Open Source and more security, with GenAI challenges with art, name, image & likeness and an updated set of AR swim goggles.

AI generated music, wearable etiquette and AR user experience with a dollop of security & privacy, concluding with retro software & hardware.

AI generated music with Suno.ai, an early look at the US DOJ complaint against Apple, pendulums as a source of randomness and a plethora of security and privacy articles.

AI thought experiment on replacing all music with Taylor Swift covers, AI software engineers, engaging talks at Monkigras & NASA’s game “The Lost Universe”

Anthropic's AI needle in a haystack test, MicrosoftClippy, Microsoft Bob, Dune and Matrix inspired user experiences and much more

The most recent spatial computing experiences, new innovations in AI from Google’s Genie, content badges signaling human created material, and a lively discussion on skill disintermediation.

An episode focused on Science Fiction leading to Innovative Science Fact! Star Trek and Douglas Adams inspired technology, AI, games, XR and spatial computing. Glad to be of service!

An AI & robot powered episode, replete with Goody2, Chess-GPT, Sora, MagicLab, Snorble, Grok, Doly and more!

First week of productive use of the Vision Pro, Disney metaverse and physical placemaking with Epic / epic partnerships, streaming AI poetry and much more!

Michael R. shares his experiences before and after picking up his new Apple Vision Pro.

Immersive technologies from Microsoft, Disney, Samsung and of course, Apple. Nightshade for AI model & cooked.wiki disruption and the last flight of Ingenuity.

AI, humanoid robots that make coffee and fold laundry, Apple’s Vision Pro, Michael R’s Wasted Time Pro and a moment of zen in an emoji garden

AI, Automotive and HCI innovations at CES 2024, VR headset announcements and the creation of the Readyverse.

Copilot keyboard key, VR trackball for your feet, bricks (Tetris, cars, LEGO) and a whole lot more for the first recorded episode of 2024!

Image by Michael Rowe with DiffusionBee, December 2023 Published 1 January 2024 Andy and Michael R are back while Michael M is away - and have a fantastic show on the DNA of 2023 in games. This episode starts with a stroll down the beginnings of Dungeons and Dragons, with Michael R sharing a couple of links from the Internet Archive.  He found a veritable treasure trove of documents, rulebooks and more.  A couple of which are in the show notes below.  Michael R noted that AD&D was not only about dungeons and dragons, with the same rules and mechanics applied to other sci-fi genres.  An additional example of the AD&D system was used by the RPG game Toon.   Turning next to PC (personal computer) based games, and moving forward a bit in time, Andy and Michael R start with games that were sold and distributed via (gasp!) physical media!   No cloud based games in this selection, though many of them are now available via the web and can be experienced (sort of) with modern hardware.  Andy comments that he and Michael are of the cohort that experienced the transition from analog to digital, and that experience will never be repeated because it just can’t.  Michael R shares his enthusiasm in playing Baldur’s Gate 3, exclaiming that he now understands why everyone is so drawn in by it.  With 108 gig of content, it’s no surprise that the graphics and gameplay are such high quality.  Of course no discussion of games would be complete without World of Warcraft.   The co-hosts also discuss several NPC (non personal computer) games such as those on the Playdate, and a large number of games on Steam.  Vote for your favorite Steam Deck games on The 2023 Steam Awards - by 2 Jan 2024 10am Pacific.  One of Andy’s particular favorites is Dave the Diver. Andy and Michael close out the last episode recorded in 2023 with the hope that there will be many unique and valuable experiences in VR and AR beyond Beat Saber. Michael M was also "playing a game” on the evening of 29 Dec — enjoying time in the Smith Center while the university students are away, and looking forward to hoisting up the sousaphone once more to play for the women’s basketball team on New Year’s Eve closing out the #JordanYear. What games are on the top of your list to play in 2024?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@botsin.space (our home for now) and let us know!  The Games at Work team wishes our friends and listeners a very Happy New Year! 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 Article Links D&D and AD&D Internet Archive: Original Dungeons and dragons - Book 1 - Men and magic by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson Internet Archive: Tsr 02100 AD& D Player's Handbook Games at Work e400: Quadringenti Mazes and Monsters by Ronna Jaffe Toon - the Cartoon Role Playing Game PC Games PC Games article: From Diablo to Half-Life, this site brings back classic PC game boxes Dos Deck Baldur’s Gate 3 Polygon article: Extremely important Baldur’s Gate 3 tips that the game never tells you World of Warcraft Windows Central article: Is it worth playing World of Warcraft in 2023? (Updated for WoW: Dragonflight 10.2) Star Wars: Jedi Survivor NPC (non-PC) Games playdate Street Fighter 6 Chicory Game Steam Deck collection Steam Deck game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Steam Deck game: Dave the Diver Steam Deck game: Vampire Survivors Steam Deck game: Placid Plastic Duck Simulator Pineapple on Pizza Blanc VR Games Beat Saber Andy’s read: 100 Ideas that Changed the Web Sousaphone Michael M’s game playing with the UNC Alumni Band 29 December

Stories about human-computer interactions with lasers, lights & LLMs. Creating universes from LLM prompts, disintermediating Craigslist fediverse-style and musings on MarketPub creating a fediverse of marketplaces. and… Vintage Vinyl

Transparency in wood, scientific paper retractions, and smart tv privacy policies. VR stories on mobile Second Life, Xbox Cloud Gaming on Meta Quest. NASA’s Dragonfly.

Data privacy in trains & cars, data visualizations of time traveling toads, infinite flowers and LLMs, Kiss immortal avatars & augmented reality architectural history.