Tuesday: January 8, 2013
Netflix testing out personalized profiles for their streaming services.The test version showed separate viewing histories and recommendations for each profile. Users are able to fine-tune their profile by telling Netflix about their movie preferences, and profiles for kids under 12 are automatically based on the service’s Just for Kids UI. In addition, parents are able to restrict the type of content displayed on a kids profile based on movie ratings.
Tuesday: January 8, 2013
Engadget goes eyes-on with Samsung's new 85 inch television set.The company calls the stand a 'timeless gallery' frame, and indeed the set would fit right in with some of the more conceptual pieces at the MoMA. Still, that easel-like design could be a bit limiting for some living rooms, so you can remove the S9 and wall-mount it -- though the 2.2 channel audio is built into that frame. Unique design aside, this TV is all about the high-end specs.
Wednesday: December 19, 2012
Buy some video games while supporting charity via Humble Indie Bundle 7.Need some new games to play and want to help charity out at the same time? The seventh annual Humble Indie Bundle is here just in time for the holidays. Pay what you want and enjoy cross-platform DRM free games from some great gaming developers.
Tuesday: December 18, 2012
Why Google's GMail outage may be a sign of things to come.The answer is that most of the coders behind today’s popular websites and services are deploying their code when it’s ready—not at some pre-determined point when downtime may not be noticed. It’s called continuous code deployment, or some variation on that theme, and everyone from Facebook and Netflix to smaller services do it. While it may occasionally cause a few blips, those blips should be shorter and less catastrophic.
Wednesday: December 12, 2012
Merry Dukemas! Gog.com giving away Duke Nukem 3D for the holidays.I have fond memories of playing Duke Nukem 3D in college as it was my first real networked game with my fellow nerd-type college friends that we could all partake in. Mind you this was way before your traditional online multiplayer we know today, before the Halos and Call of Duties, and way before kids screaming obscenities at other adults through Xbox headsets were the norm. I'm surprised to see that the game still holds up well jaggy pixels and all. Hey, you can even snag a Mac port of the game - hurry offer ends while supplies last (you have until December 14 and supplies won't run out).
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.
Monday: December 10, 2012
Upcoming Star Wars 1313 video game getting some helping hands from all facets of LucasFilms.Now that Disney has acquired LucasArts some interesting news is starting to trickle out regarding their games division. It seems that all of the different entities under LucasFilms such as Industrial Light and Magic, Skywalker Sound, Lucas Animation, and LucasArts are all collobarating on this next generation title. Star Wars 1313 will take place in the seedy underbelly of Corsuscant which alone sounds like an interesting premise. Whatever does come out of this Disney/Lucas effort it will most likely be better than The Force Unleashed 2 by default (zing).
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
A video review of the next Legend of Zelda game due out on November 20th for the Nintendo Wii.GameTrailers sums up everything you would need to know about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in under ten minutes for your viewing pleasure. I've always had a real soft spot for Zelda games. This title may force me to blow the dust off of the old Nintendo Wii and hook it up via nine-hundred multi-colored component cables once again. Also, as the review demonstrates, the Wii really shows it's age with the graphics and lack of voice acting here. In the end though, it still looks like it will be an utterly fantastic Zelda game.
Wired would like you to know Amazon's Jeff Bezos owns more of the web than you think.An interesting read for those of you who want to have a little more insight as to just what Amazon does these days on the Interwebs besides selling everything under the sun. There's an interesting chart about half-way down he page that discusses how some important companies rely on Amazon's web services to power their products. If AWS shut off today, well - it's best not to think about it.
Wednesday: November 9, 2011
Bret Victor's not-so-brief rant on the future of interaction design.If you haven't seen Microsoft's video entailing what they think the future of technology holds, you should watch it (readily available on source URL as an embedded clip). So watch that video and then read Victor's thoughts on the matter. That being said, I do have a minor point of contention. I did get some hands-on time with a Kinect-enabled Xbox 360 this past weekend and it was a fun, dare I say, semi-magical experience. I highly reccomend Double Fine's Once Upon a Monster (even the demo is fun).