Wednesday: December 19, 2012
Barack Obama is TIME's 2012 Person of the Year.Since the moment Obama arrived on the national scene in 2004, the very idea of leadership has been under assault. Many of the old institutions that once anchored the American Dream have been bled of public confidence. Banks, Big Business, the news media and Congress all polled at or near record lows during his first term. Obama himself was the target of uncommon vitriol, but he has somehow managed to keep the public’s faith.
Friday: July 18, 2014
Turns out that one in four U.S. employees have no paid vacation time.The United States is the only advanced economy with no guaranteed vacation time for workers, and most Americans aren't even aware that guaranteed time off is common elsewhere in the world. While the guaranteed number of days off for employees in the U.S. is zero, workers in the European Union get at least 20 days per year, not including public holidays.
Tuesday: January 8, 2013
Ten awesome Super Nintendo RPG games you should probably play at least once in your life.I'm not sure if I should be proud or just plain sad to say that I've only completed five of the ten games on this list. Oh whatever, I'm proud - those were good times. For those of you who would like to relive the Super Nintendo glory days check out the OpenEmu project. It's a fantastic iTunes-like emulator for Mac that is currently under development (thanks Ant).
Facebook testing out new single-column design for their timeline.This latest design rollout is only appearing for those residing in New Zealand at this point in time. If you really can't wait to see it the new timeline, fear not - it's just a quick 19 hour flight away (for those of us on the east coast).
Monday: January 7, 2013
New Lego Mindstorm sets come with iOS and Android support right out of the box.Its updated Mindstorms EV3 runs on new Linux firmware that's ready for Android and iOS control out of the box, creates an overall more hackable platform and allows further programming on the core Intelligent Brick itself; accordingly, there's an SD card slot for local storage. A built-in infrared sensor expands the possibilities for a more autonomous design, as well -- Lego suggests that EV3 constructs can follow other moving gadgets, or even their creators, around the room.
Tuesday: December 18, 2012
TIME pulls the curtain back on short list for 2012 Person of the Year.All eight candidates appeared on TIME’s online reader poll, but none took first place. TIME’s online voters have already revealed their choice for this year’s top newsmaker: Kim Jong Un. More than 5.6 million people voted for the supreme leader of North Korea, although his results and those of other high scorers got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan.
Thursday: December 13, 2012
Apple selects the Best of 2012 awards from notable iTunes Store apps and games.For the first time in two years, no photography apps made it in to the top listings. 2012 also marks the first year that an Entertainment app was given an editor’s choice award. As always, during the end of the year wrap up Apple highlights games and apps from a wide variety of categories, so it’s well worth skimming the list for hidden gems.
Phish announces four-night webcast for 2012-2013 New Years run.Phish has done this webcast for two years in a row and both years I've purchased all four webcasts and enjoyed them immensely. I suspect this year that the tradition of this purchase won't be changing. The quality of the webcast is superb (glorious HD) and features a 10 camera system with the sound piped in right from the soundboard at amazing clarity. So that being said, if you need to reach me around New Years I will officially be on what is known affectionately to Phish fans as 'couch tour'.
Wednesday: December 12, 2012
Want to know what the world searched for in 2012? There's a Google Zeitgeist for that.They even prepared a little video with inspirational music to go along with it. How very Google of them.
Sunday: December 9, 2012
Telltale's episodic adapation of The Walking Dead wins Game of the Year award.If you haven't played any games from Telltale now would be a good time to start. I've been a big fan of Telltale early on as they managed to take some classic yet seemingly abandoned LucasArts franchises (Sam and Max, Monkey Island) and restore them with new storylines and fun adventures. That being said, I've heard wonderful things about their latest offering with Kirkman's series and how it takes adventure gaming to an entirely different level. Truth be told, I haven't tried out The Walking Dead yet but I plan to in the near future. Congratulations to the entire Telltale Games team!
Monday: November 14, 2011
Everything you never knew about Google's top secret lab where they pursue future ideas.According to the article, this magical place (dubbed 'Google X') is where Google may or may not be working on the following futuristic concepts: 1) an internet fridge that orders food when it's low, 2) driver-less cars, 3) space elevators, 4) personal assistant robots for your home, 5) networked coffee pots and gardening tools and finally 6) training monkeys to fly airplanes for special covert operations.