e539 — Wikipedia is 25!

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.