June 2012
45 posts
“Facebook’s event invites might be bare, but that’s fine—we just want...”
– Google is awkward, for lack of a better word - and the fact that they’re yet more awkward than Facebook is a testament to how hard it really is to make technology that jives with how we actually do things in real life. See the full post at Gizmodo.
WatchHave you ever wondered how you could combine downhill bike racing with winter sports? You need not wonder anymore.
In Saas-Fee, Switzerland, bikers push riding to the extreme as they pedal down a glacier in a death-defying race. A handful of the 142 riders mounted cameras to their bikes and helmets so us less adventurous (and perhaps more sane) types can get a feel for the crazy race....
“The book ends with the disconcerting thought that progress in science is not a...”
– Ian Hacking’s new introduction to Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
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The Tangential: What I’ve Learned About Music in... →
thetangential:
When I was a teenager, I listed all the tapes I owned and numbered all the tracks, from one to whatever thousand. I’d then roll a ten-sided die to generate random numbers in that range, and would use those numbers to make randomly shuffled mixtapes. I thought I might be driving a flying car by…
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“Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism,...”
– I’m a sucker for commencement speeches. Especially ones that are part jeremiad.
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THE GOD OF GAMES: Tomb Raider - On "Writing" →
thegodofgames:
Think about it. If a great game is released, but the writing is terrible, how does that affect the overall critical take on that game? Hardly at all. And I’m not saying it should. I’m saying that the criteria by which we judge a video game barely touches on that whole, messy writing part of the equation.
This was a response to this horrible thing on the new Tomb Raider game.
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Two types of games; or: about that DFW quote from...
[link] If the job of an artist is to lure people away from the easy thrills (entertainment) towards more substantial and challenging experiences (art), then what separates things on this continuum? Is it the same across medium? Like, what makes the difference between an artful video game and an entertaining video game?
Let’s just think about what makes a game entertaining. For starters,...
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Watchmia-the-wonder-slut:
A little backstory to this clip before you watch it:
Will Smith’s father abandoned him and his mother when he was a child, and when Will was finally getting into show business and making a name for himself, he tried to sneak his way back into his life like nothing happened.
Will co-wrote this episode, and James Avery (Uncle Phil) said “this scene was the hardest thing...
POEM: Phrases I've Deleted When Repinning
thetangential:
!!! Love it!! Love it! for trips to the bathroom. This is awesome! !! So cute I loved my books! You can do anything but don’t step on my pink suede shoes. Love the ! Cutest Ever Holy sheeeeet. Good for the kids for the 4th! Love the letters SO COOL—- Just Love. cute picture !!! Someday I will be glad I pinned this.
- Jay Gabler
“So that is my question for all of you: What is the new calendar? What are the...”
– Time fills the space it is given, but what does being in that space feel like? Is it like watching a stock ticker? Does it speed things up or slow things down? Will you wonder, once you’re free of that space, what the hell happened to all those heartbeats?
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Watch“It’ll probably be like Pinterest meets Instagram, but for weddings, or sandwiches, or something…”
“But what we really got down to is quite serious. It is not that we can’t laugh...”
– If only all comedians could apologize like this. Hat tip to http://masonpitzel.tumblr.com/
“Because of its problems, Windows 8 isn’t fun to use, at least for me. ...”
– Another awesome little tidbit from the same article. It’s also where I think some meaningful gamification can happen: in making a product that is satisfying to use because it connects with what the user cares deeply about. The game’s dynamics are an effort to close the gap between what...
“I’m drawn to a quote from the Jonathan Ive profile that I referenced...”
– This. Always this. Simplicity is about lots more than appearance. You can get caught up in the task of superficially signalling simplicity by removing clutter, but that misses the point entirely. Making a device or app or OS that is simple means that it accomplishes what it must for who it must...
