Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Keith Devlin, author of "The Unfinished Game," who talks about the letters exchanged between two mathematicians -- Pascal and Fermat -- changed our lives.

Computer gaming is a fast growing market and an important means of expression for an entire generation, but new online games are unstable and expensive to develop. In this presentation from the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Chris Melissinos, Chief Gaming Office of Sun Microsystems points out some of the problems and opportunities in the online gaming market and how Sun's Project Darkstar will help make better online games.

Second Life is not a game - it is a social, interactive, 3D version of the Internet. In this talk from the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Philip Rosedale, CEO and Founder of Linden Lab, discusses the implications of the virtual world Second Life, his company's move towards open source, and the value of open source as a business strategy in a network-effects market.

On this episode of IEEE Spectrum, learn about controlling a computer mouse by voice, a better alternative to electroshock therapy, and citizen clean water activism. A new software program designed to compliment voice recognition software lets users control a mouse by making vowel sounds and clicks. Also, magnetic seizure therapy has been as effective as electroshock therapy in patients who don't respond to medication, but without the threat of amnesia.

On this edition of IEEE Spectrum Radio, class A ranked chess player Paul Hoffman talks about his new book "King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game." Hoffman also discusses how he has been involved with chess, from playing in competitions, to using chess as an educational tool.

If you haven't heard about ubiquitous games yet, now is your chance to get ahead of the curve. Jane McGonigal discusses this new genre of game that integrates alternate realities with everyday life. For developers of ubiquitous games, increasing happiness and the quality of life is the top priority. McGonigal cites some examples to illustrate the concept and challenges the technology industry to evaluate their own work in terms of the happiness it generates.

Raph Koster, author of the book "A Theory of Fun for Game Design", describes the grammar of fun. He gives a checklist of ways to make social media more fun based on his work in online games. Most important is to give users context and feedback for every action they take, and that fun comes at the edge of failure.

In its short history, the Nintendo Wii has become one of the most popular game consoles available. In particular, its remote controller is sophisticated, containing a number of input devices that outperform regular personal computers. Johnny Lee, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University is working on a number of exciting projects with the controller. He joins Phil and Scott to discuss his applications, including his video demonstrations available on YouTube.

Matt MacLaurin, who works for Microsoft's Creative Systems Group, is developing a game -- and game-development platform -- called Boku. On this episode of Interviews with Innovators, host Jon Udell asks Matt about his own early experiences writing software for systems that invited hacking.

Exploiting Online Games takes a frank look at controversial security issues surrounding MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. The book comes fully loaded with code examples, debuggers, bots, and hacks. Co-author Gary McGraw joins Phil and Scott to discuss this important topic. Of interest to gamers, developers, and security professionals, Gary talks about how gamers cheat, as well as why software companies are slow to combat the problem.