Nintendo nostalgia

I don't know about you guys, but I never stopped loving old Nintendo games. Way back in my younger years, my older cousin gave me and my brother his Super Nintendo, the predecessor to Nintendo 64. It's a console so ancient that some of my friends have never even heard of it. And even after my brother graduated to the Playstation 1, 2, 3 and then a series of Xboxes, I never moved on from Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong. I still play them sometimes when I'm visiting home, which instantly brings me back to my childhood.

A writer for techcrunch.com recently spoke on Nintendo's need to make a comeback. Nintendo is resisting the move to smartphones and struggling to keep up with its more tech-savvy competitors. But maybe Nintendo needs to go back in time. The techcrunch columnist suggests that it creates a new console dedicated entirely to retro games. The games would be sold in a cheap online store full of Nintendo classics. The company could even strike deals with other 'retro' companies like Atari and Sega to license their games. The columnist says it perfectly:

'Nintendo’s strength is in nostalgia. They should be playing to that rather than trying to compete with the likes of Sony and Microsoft. I guarantee you that if Nintendo made such a move, those companies would have another “Wii moment” and drop everything to emulate Nintendo’s strategy. Except they wouldn’t be able to without Nintendo’s IP.'

It would be an instant hit. Instead of battling other companies to come up with the next 'big thing,' why not go back to what it does best? Nintendo reminds people of childhood. Of a simpler time before iPhones took over the world, when families sat around together and laughed and played games. Who doesn't want a little more of that in today's world?

Sick of Bieber fever?

...then just log on to whitehouse.gov and sign the petition asking the Obama administration to deport him! The petition reads:

We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society.

The Canadian pop singer just can't seem to stay out of mischief or headlines, most recently adding a DUI charge to his quickly-growing rap sheet. When a petition reaches the threshold of 100,000 signatures, the U.S. government must issue a response. It's 10:45 p.m., and the petition already has 162,423 signatures, well over the required number of Bieber-haters to force the Obama administration to make a call.

The kid clearly needs someone to slap some major sense back into him, but deportation? Somehow I can't imagine Obama signing off on his total removal from the country. I think the stir that would cause among pre-teen girls would create a much bigger mess for the U.S. government than the complaints of disgruntled parents.

I kind of hope it happens though, so Bieber can plead, "Baby, baby, baby, noooooo!"

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

                                                                                                       patspapers.com

It's an age-old philosophical question that gets at the idea of perception: if something happens but nobody witnesses it, did it really happen?

Today I was pondering my generation's obsession with social media (I speak for myself here, too) and my mind jumped to that question. Last weekend, I visited New York for the first time. I stayed with two friends in Brooklyn and spent the weekend venturing around the hipster-filled neighborhoods and tasting quirky new cuisines. But each time I found myself especially wowed by the presentation of my food or the view at the Williamsburg waterfront, I pulled out my iPhone. I snapped a photo and uploaded it to Instagram for all my followers to see, making sure to tag my location. Later, I guiltily wondered--why wasn't it enough to appreciate a moment without taking digital record of it? Why couldn't I be content with a mental image of that skyline instead of sharing it with everyone else? The answer could lie in the fact that when my social media followers "like" my posts, it lends a sort of credence to the quality of my experiences. It's reassurance that other people deem them as awesome as I do. When we put a snippet of our lives out there for public scrutiny, we're seeking group-generated value added to what otherwise would have been a private moment.

So this brings us back to the falling tree. In today's culture of hyper-sharing, there's an added component besides the tree and a witness: everybody else. If you didn't tweet it to your followers, did it really happen? Suddenly, one person's experience alone isn't enough. Sharing that experience with the rest of the world is what makes it real and gives it meaning. When we go to a concert, visit a cool new city, or whip up a drool-worthy homemade meal, it only gains merit when we post the proof.

It's kind of a sad admission, but it's our reality. Our constant connectedness to social media adds a huge pressure to maintain an online image, to the point where I've sometimes even thought about the photos I'll post later before an event occurs. We're enjoying things less because we're so preoccupied with sharing them in cyberspace, preventing us from being truly present in the moment. Someday maybe we'll return to the days when experiencing something for yourself was enough, but for now, we'll keep making the sound of the falling tree reverberate around the world.

The trouble with Tinder

                                                                                       cultofmac.com

A new suvey reveals 69 percent of singles are confused over what, exactly, constitutes a "date." Dating has become quite complicated for millennials who have countless ways to communicate with their potential love interests at every second of the day. New apps and technology further complicate our relationship statuses. Should you be concerned if there's a different girl in your boyfriend's "Top 3" on Snapchat? What does it mean if the guy you've been seeing untags himself in your photo? How seriously can you take the person you met on Tinder? It's downright overwhelming to be in a relationship in the 21st century. It's no wonder we're wading through a massive, murky gray area when it comes to romance. Even worse, we begin to rely on digitized forms of communication instead of the real deal, dwelling comfortably behind a screen instead of sharing our feelings face to face.

What do you think? How can you preserve authenticity and avoid confusion in this digitized dating world?

Is Google liberal or conservative?

                                                                                                         patdollard.com

 Or should it be aligning with any ideology at all? Google is taking some heat for strengthening its ties with the GOP to protect regulations that are advantageous to its business. The tech giant who was a major source of President Obama's campaign funding and came out in support of liberal policies such as support for gay marriage, relaxed immigration standards and reduction of carbon emissions is now being labeled a hypocrite by some.

The issue? The fact that Google took any ideological stances to begin with. If Google had remained politically neutral, nobody would sniff at the newfound cash flow to the right. But Google has developed an image that people hold it accountable to, and unfortunately for Google, anti-regulatory legislation that benefits its business doesn't exactly align with its liberal platform.

Didn't Chick-fil-A and Duck Dynasty teach us what happens when you try to mix business and politics?

Well, that's creepy....

Ever get that feeling you're being watched? Well, you might be, thanks to new camera technology that enables wearers to inconspicuously photograph everything they see.





Two new tiny cameras that recently began shipping, the Narrative Clip ($279) and the Autographer ($299), are roughly the size of a matchbox and clip easily onto your clothing. They're programmed to snap photos of what you see in front of you at 30-second intervals, producing thousands of photos each day that are ready to upload to your device. A GPS chip records the location of each shot, and special software highlights the most interesting photos once you've uploaded them. Who needs a camera when you can automatically photograph every moment of your life? ...Right?

Personally, I only see two legitimate uses for this miniature spy-cam:

• If you lose your wallet or your phone, you can look back through the camera reel and find out where you put it (I lose things constantly, so I could see some real value in this. I might as well call it a "Stuff-tracker," not an "Autographer").
• You can capture rare, candid moments that are lost when you stop to pose for photos.

But the few, glorious moments you might capture on your spy-cam seem heavily outweighed by the pain of sorting through thousands of worthless shots you couldn't care less about. Not to mention the creepy, awkward factor of knowing you're constantly taking pictures of everyone/everything you interact with (the bathroom stall, much?). I just wouldn't feel comfortable conversing with someone who was capturing photos of my face every 30 seconds.

Personally, I'd rather just suck it up and pull out my iPhone when a true Kodak moment comes my way.

Beware of BYOD

                                                                                                                   vbridges.com

                                                                                                           
Companies are increasingly encouraging employees to use their personal devices for work-related activities. Referred to as "bring your own device," or BYOD, this trend allows employees to stay more engaged with their work throughout the day.

But BYOD is beginning to present some unforeseen consequences. After employees have been terminated, some companies wipe their phones clean to secure company data, often without warning. Twenty-one percent of companies perform these "remote wipes," according to a July 2013 survey by data protection firm Acronis Inc.

Many former employees have been less than pleased by this practice. One angry ex-employee who lost photos of his grandma after a data wipe is even demanding compensation. This story is another example of the problems that arise when the constant presence of technology blurs the lines between our personal and professional lives.

iPhone, man's best friend

                                                        imdb.com

 The recent film Her, a sci-fi/romance/comedy directed by Spike Jonze that hit theaters Dec. 18, offers a unique (and somewhat troubling) look into the way we interact with technology. The film follows a lonely divorcé who falls deeply in love with his advanced operating system (OS1). Scarlett Johansson is the voice of Samantha, the "woman" behind the OS, who is designed to meet your every need.

Jonze may be satirizing people's real-life attachments to their mobile devices, but the underlying message is all too real. An article published this morning by The Week talks about the conscious efforts made by phone companies to humanize your cell phone. Nokia's SMS tone shares its frequency with that of a crying infant, alerting users immediately. And of course we all know Siri, Apple's version of a personal assistant who can perform tasks and respond to requests at your command.

While actually falling in love with our phones may seem like a silly notion, questioning how we form relationships in a world of digitized-everything is something to think about...


Click to view article from The Week

Every move you make...

                                                                                                theretailintelligence.com

 Most of us are familiar with targeted advertising in some form. When we shop for certain products online, ads for similar products pop up in our side bar. When our Facebook friends like a product page, we often get a suggestion to do the same. While many find these tactics invasive at worst and annoying at best, they're becoming increasingly common.

But how would you feel if companies were tracking your every move during the day based on signals emitted from your phone's WiFi connection?

Turnstyle Solutions Inc., a fledgling start-up company from Toronto, has enabled small businesses to do just that. Turnstyle has placed tiny sensors in over 200 businesses within a 0.7-mile radius in downtown Toronto. The sensors use shoppers' WiFi connections to chart the places they go and use this data to put them in categories like "yoga-goers" and "hipsters." Clients can then use this knowledge to offer special promotions to appeal to certain types of customers.

What do you think? Clever or creepy?

Click to see full article from the Wall Street Journal