The Pims! Wednesday Link Digest # 04
world-building ai, robot games, augmented reality, computer vision, and scrolling your life away
1. Tencent releases Yan, its answer to Google’s Genie 3
Last week I shared a link to Google’s Genie 3, an impressive world-generating AI. Now Tencent has jumped into the race with Yan, its own real-time world simulation tool. We’re at the point where you can step inside fully interactive environments just by writing a prompt. Some users are already venturing into old paintings. Can you imagine arguing with Aristotle while strolling through ancient Greece?
Tools like Yan and Genie 3 will help you turn your imagination into real experiences, letting you explore history, art, and fantasy worlds in a way that feels tangible.
2. First edition of the World Humanoid Robot Games 2025
China just hosted the very first World Humanoid Robot Games, a bold signal of its full-throttle commitment to robotics. Meanwhile, the West remains cautious, even resistant. I don’t think we’ll ever see a robots competition on this scale in America. The contrast is striking: China shows united support for its innovators while the US is weighed down by division and skepticism. Think Sputnik, but with robots.
These games highlight a widening gap in global tech priorities, and hint at who might lead the robotics era ahead.
3. You can turn videos into “holograms” now
A developer on Twitter showed how to convert video depth data into interactive digital particle clouds. It’s not quite vapor-based holograms just yet, but it’s a fun project that shows us what’s already possible with current technology. Imagine walking around a moment in time, not just watching it on a flat screen.
I support anything that brings us even tangentially closer to getting a holodeck.
4. Fun With Computer Vision
Fun With Computer Vision is packed with tutorials that let you control software using only your hands and a standard webcam. It’s the kind of project that instantly makes you think of that Back to the Future 2 arcade scene. You know the one.
Hand-tracking will enable an entire class of creative tools in the not too distant future. Get in on the ground floor and see where we’re going before we get there.
5. You Scroll How Many Miles Per Year?!
Someone crunched the numbers and found that Americans scroll an average of 86 miles on their phones every year. That’s nearly two and a half marathons of thumb swipes. It’s an absurd, almost comic statistic, but it’s also a sharp reminder of how deeply digital feeds shape our days.
Realizing the sheer scale of our scrolling habits can inspire healthier choices—or at least spark awareness about attention and time.
Quick recap
Yan vs Genie 3: Prompt-based worlds you can walk into.
Robot Games 2025: China goes all-in on humanoid robotics.
Video to holograms: From videos to particle clouds.
Fun With Computer Vision: fun hand-tracking tutorials and demos.
Scrolling miles: The scale of scrolling habits revealed.
So that’s our random round-up: world-building ai, robot games, augmented reality, computer vision, and scrolling your life away. Tune in next week for more.