Recently Penny Arcade, Inc. posted a help wanted ad for a system administrator. I’ve been working in IT for eight years, and I’ve seen some job postings with outlandish experience and certification requirements with unreasonable job responsibilities for a staggeringly low amount of pay, but this posting takes the cake. Continue reading
technology
29 posts
I feel I need to preface this post with the following: I am not a technologically savvy person. I love my iPhone for the reasons most of us love our smart phones: in addition to making calls and sending texts, I can check Facebook and Twitter and email and the Internet wherever I am. It gives me directions when I’m hopelessly lost (sometimes — ask me about the time I wound up in the middle of a field. The phone said turn right!) It means I’m never without somewhere to eat. It is a portable computer I can fit in the palm of my hand. What’s not to love? Continue reading
This actually rather poignant short film encapsulates, with some possible exaggeration (or is it?) our modern everyday usage (or addiction) to our smart phones. It begs the question of when is enough…enough? Continue reading
For those of you that follow MMORPGs, you’ve probably noticed that the big trend among new games is the free-to-play model. For those of you that have actually played some of these games, you’ve probably noticed that free-to-play either becomes pay-to-play or pay-to-win pretty quickly. Although many developers are gamers themselves, they are also attempting to create a profitable product, and when those two instincts collide the business side inevitably wins. This creates friction with their user bases, and if left unresolved inevitably leads to the game failing.
I recently started playing Marvel Heroes, an MMO based in the Marvel universe, which uses a League of Legends-style Heroes system. The launch has not exactly been smooth, to say the least. So, speaking as a both a gamer, with insider knowledge of gamer psychology, as well as someone with a business background, I’m hoping to bridge the gap and explain how it’s possible to create a Free-To-Play game that convinces the gamer to spend money and make the game profitable. Continue reading
While sitting in a restaurant on “date night” I couldn’t help shaking my head at a young couple in their twenties as they sat nearly motionless for much of their meal, both with their heads bent over their phones texting like crazy. Neither seemed to think there was anything wrong with sitting in each other’s company and texting away as if the other wasn’t there.
Is this the only way we communicate? Continue reading
When I originally learned of the Nest Learning Thermostat, I understood that its creator had a history within Apple and thus the design of the device was slick and it the device itself, revolutionary. Now I’m reading that the third generation Nest device is about to be released. The site, nest.com is touting the new device as having “a refined design that’s enclosed by a single solid stainless steel ring.” This starts to remind me of the song and dance we’re used to by now with Apple releasing an ever thinner and faster version of basically the same exact thing – year after year. So it seems that design isn’t the only thing Tony Fadell, (co) inventor of the iPod, learned from his days with Apple. Continue reading
Oh, technology. There’s so much of it to go around. Our smartphones are practically on their way to being able to launch missiles. (No one tell us if smartphones can already launch missiles.) So why can’t we use them to launch an impromptu date? Well, you certainly can, silly. You can order up a date much like a pizza. Didn’t know that did you? Well, now you do. Mobile dating. The first step in securing a random hookup based on such aesthetics as appearance and liking the same coffee house — or in short — an “orchestrated serendipitous but not really meeting.” Yay? Continue reading
I see a lot of you talk about “Draw Something” and “Words With Friends” in the Open Threads, but I currently play neither. Right now I’m all about Tiny Tower. I’ve got 35 levels and 54 Bitizens living in my tower. Some have dream jobs, some don’t and I’m looking for my 55th resident without having to spend a Buck.
Then of course, I have to check on my people in Oregon Settler (a knock off of the beloved Oregon Trail) or else I get the purple sad face letting me know the people in my settlement are not happy.
What games or apps are you currently obsessed with? Continue reading
Thanks for coming in today. Please sit down. There’s a bottle of water over there for you, and some tissues if you need them. We’re here today to talk about the giant stash of old gadgets and gizmos you have secreted in the nooks and crannies of your home. Continue reading
Ten years ago, DC Comics published the seminal “Death of Superman” comic book series. In this storyline, Superman takes on a monster called Doomsday, who *spoiler alert* kills Superman. Doomsday was created in a lab on Krypton by a mad scientist named Bertron, who then subjected Doomsday to the harshest possible environments and situations. Consequently, Doomsday died. A lot. However, each time Doomsday died, he would be reconstituted by Bertron, and adapted to whatever killed him. He died thousands of times, and through this forced evolution eventually became virtually indestructible, at which point he turned on Bertron, killed him, and went on a galactic rampage.
New developments in file sharing software now threaten to release a digital Doomsday, and copyright and patent holders may sooner rather than later find themselves in the role of Superman. Continue reading