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Flappy Bird and video game controllers
When worlds clash – one free game advertising another. Also, platinum medal! Many iconic games can be grasped in just a few seconds, yet can fascinate us for years, either because of their novelty...
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What would it take for Google to collapse?
A recent thread in /r/AskReddit posed a similar question. The comments were revelatory, with plenty of resigned jokes about the heat death of the universe, antitrust proceedings, and the (unlikely)...
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The comprehensive guide to Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time
Short intro I wrote an entry about Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time earlier this year covering some basic strategies for making it through the game without spending anything. PVZ2 is the most...
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Facebook’s strategy revealed in creepy bus stop ad
I was going to lunch today, walking along Lake St. in Chicago to a Jimmy John’s (conveniently next to a Starbucks, where I would get a coffee afterward) and I saw a Facebook ad. No, not one of those...
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The how and the why of Yo
Yo. Yo the Word It’s a simple greeting with a complex etymology. It may come from the Old English and Norwegian words for yes (ġēa and jo, respectively) and was first recorded as a greeting in 1859,...
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Stephen King’s “Cell” and the pre-iPhone era
Just started reading a Stephen King novel from 2006, “Cell.” Right before 9/11, I went through a phase in which I read most of his 1970s and 1980s work, before my reading time was taken up by more...
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Strong versus weak dollar (also, Apple)
A fistful of dollars/for a few barrels more Everyone wants a strong dollar, right? In the U.S., politicians will pay lip service to the notion of a strong dollar – i.e., in their minds, a dollar that...
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Apps and social media fatigue
If I were to graph the number of apps installed on any device I own since I got my first Android phone in the summer of 2011 (an HTC Inspire), it would be left-skewed. A combination of concerns about...
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(Android) Notifications: Useful Apps and Extensions
Just another day at the Android 4.3 notification office. Notifications are the one thing that Android has always done better than iOS. Even Android 1.0 from 2008 had status bar notifications, a feature...
View ArticleNintendo is not Apple
^ That’s a compliment, not an insult. The similarities between Nintendo and Apple seem overwhelming at first blush: They both develop tightly integrated hardware/software experiences. Apple’s...
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