Published 6 July 2026
e560 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stickshift & phone handsets with Ian Bogost, camping at EMF Camp 2026 & Mountain Quest 2026, brain cooling, dwarf lemurs, World Cup 2026, USMNT, ThreeLions, the tokenpocalypse and a whole lot more!
Andy, Michael and Michael get things started with a TechCrunch interview with Ian Bogost on his about to be published book, The Small Stuff. Building on the success of his article on the demise of the stick shift, Ian wrote a book that focuses on the details of life that make a difference. The cohosts harken back all the way to episode 17 in August of 2012 when Ian was a guest on the podcast. Part of the discussion from the article focused on the nature of the telephone handset, which brought the EMF Camp telecommunications setup to mind for Andy. Electromagnetic Telecom allows anyone attending EMF to register a phone number on the network and communicate with other participants. Speaking of camping, Michael M shares an overview video of Mountain Quest 2026, where he was a participant the prior weekend in the mountains of North Carolina.
It’s hot in the UK and in North Carolina – so the maker article about the brain turbocharger looked to be a welcome relief from the heat. This modified construction helmet recognizes when the user has been thinking hard and signals multiple fans built into the helmet to cool things down so the user’s brain does not overheat from overclocking.
Recent discussions on the podcast about the Steam hardware made the BC250 an intriguing topic. Michael R recounts his recent trip to the Duke Lemur Center to see the small Fat-tailed dwarf lemur. And in the small and cool category, the team considers the “Impossible Watch” from D1 Milano.
The cohosts then take a brief World Cup interlude from the tech discussions. While neither Michael is what you may consider a ‘bandwagon’ fan for the World Cup, the Lay’s potato chip television commercial is pretty funny. Check out the embedded video below. At the time of recording and writing, both England and the USA are still in the hunt for the cup – best wishes to both national teams!
Wrapping up the episode, the team discusses the tokenpocalypse. The 404 Media article highlights how companies are have gone from tokenmaxxing to tokenhoarding as the price point for AI is soaring.
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Selected Links
Beating the heat by sweating the small stuff
TechCrunch article: Writer Ian Bogost says ‘The Small Stuff’ can help us reclaim our lives from too much convenience
Small Stuff Book by Ian Bogost
The Atlantic article: The End of Manual Transmission
Games at Work e17: Things Are Weirder Than Expected (for special guest Ian Bogost)
Electromagnetic Telecom plc (phones at EMF Camp)
Are the North Carolina mountains a rainforest? Yes.
Makers (staying cool with cool stuff)
Arduino blog post: Brain hot from serious thinking? This helmet automatically cools your head
Aftermath article: Bless The BC250, The Budget E-waste Steam Machine
Wikipedia article: Fat-tailed dwarf lemur
Gear Patrol article: This May Be the First Kickstarter Watch I’d Actually Consider Buying
World Cup – England and US still in at recording time!
Data Guessr site: Who wins if not football decides?
Token Throttling
404 Media article: Companies Are Throttling Employees’ AI Use Because It’s Too Expensive
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