Michael R brings back Ian Hughes to discuss the recent changes with Meta’s VR investments, cool content on Apple’s Vision Pro, the new Creator Studio bundle, and 25 years of Wikipedia.
While Andy and Michael M are not available we look at how large companies cutting back on innovation can allow new startups and companies to flourish. With Meta refocusing more on wearables, perhaps we will see an uptick in innovative uses for VR. Which is a perfect sequel way for Michael to given his review of the NBA’s recent basketball game on the Vision Pro. The experience seemed to him to be the perfect onramp for Michael M, if it were college basketball.
We then review a few older games (Civilization VII and RetroCade), coming to Apple Arcade, before looking at the Board Tabletop Gaming Console. With all this cool tech, Michael introduces Ian to the Apple Creator Studio. Is it worth it? Ian, having recently built an AI server at home via ComfyUI, thinks it may be cheap enough for his pocketbook.
Finally we get to Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary, and what Ian did on the Cool Stuff Collective for Wikipedia’s 15th Anniversary.
Showlinks:
Meta:
Shutting studios – https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/01/14/meta-three-vr-studios
Shifting to Wearables – https://www.theverge.com/news/861295/meta-reality-labs-layoffs-shift-to-wearables
Discontinuing Metaverse for work – https://www.theverge.com/tech/863209/meta-has-discontinued-its-metaverse-for-work-too
Vision Pro:
NBA on the Vision Pro – https://www.macstories.net/news/immersive-lakers-game-now-widely-available-on-apple-vision-pro/
RetroCade – https://techhub.social/@ellenich/115894673956399018
Games:
Board Table Top – https://www.wired.com/review/board-tabletop-game-console
Civ VII – https://www.theverge.com/news/861816/civilization-vii-apple-arcade-launch
Creators:
Creator Studio – https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/01/introducing-apple-creator-studio-an-inspiring-collection-of-creative-apps/
Wikipedia:
25th Anniversary – https://www.theverge.com/news/861935/wikipedia-25th-anniversary-2026
Wikipedia 25th site – https://wikipedia25.org
Cool stuff collective – https://citv.fandom.com/wiki/Cool_Stuff_Collective
Comfy UI – https://comfyui.org/en/what-is-comfyui
These show notes were lovingly crafted by a human.