“I would kill the world before it did you harm” 

→ Expiring Dates for Streaming Titles No Longer Available through Netflix’s API

Until now, the API provided the exact expiry dates but Netflix has now made the decision to *not* provide the exact expiry dates unless a title is expiring in the next two weeks. For all other titles, Netflix will show a far-out, made-up date irrespective of whether it expires 3 weeks out or 6 months out.

Another WTF decision by Netflix. Scathing Comments here.  Particularly for TV series a knowledgeable customer doesn’t want to start something and not have the time to finish. For power users instantwatcher.com and the like are necessary and a change like this helps nobody.

→ Twitter is Tracking you on the Web

Basically, every time you visit a site that has a follow button, a “tweet this” button, or a hovercard, Twitter is recording your behavior. It is transparently watching your movements and storing them somewhere for later use.

Some of this web tracking stuff is confusing I’m trying to learn more myself.  I suggest installing the Extensions Disconnect and Keep My Opt-Outs for Chrome users to stop at least some of this behavior. Also see Do Not Track hopefully being able to stop this stuff gets easier and widely adopted.

→ As I Lay Dying The Blinding of False Light (Innerpartysystem Remix) (YouTube)

I LOVE THIS REMIX! It makes dubstep sound good.
Dakotak131

I don’t know shit about Dubstep but I do know metal. AILD has a new CD with four remixes and strangely I like them all. The song above has some nice drops, that’s what the kids call them right? 

→ Return (YouTube)

good gameplay and great montage man. good job!
kishawiboi

These type of gameplay montage videos are rather addicting particularly the Modern Warfare ones.  Here’s another good one and one more for good measure. Need to get a capture card some day.

→ Welcome to Apple

“What greets you on your first day at Apple. I’ve had this taped to my dresser for two years. Words to live by.”

Only posted this to infuriate vanberge…

Enchantment! (Sandal is awesome)

→ The Hipster Hunt (Vimeo)

Jon Christopher
Hipsters are cultural elitists. They don’t have money, but they have better taste than you. Everyone is a little bit hipster.

Nobody has a clue what a Hipster is but nobody wants to be one. Brunch anyone?

→ What Your Favorite Video Game (Series) Says About You

Metal Gear Solid: You think that suicidal people should just go on cool death-defying missions.

Sounds about right. Click though and make sure to check out Wii Sports, Bioshock, and Deus Ex. The Bioshock one made me laugh.

→ High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being

We conclude that high income buys life satisfaction but not happiness, and that low income is associated both with low life evaluation and low emotional well-being.

I could have concluded that without having to poll 450,000 people.

→ The Madness Behind the Game for Horrible People

Cards Against Humanity, self-described as “a party game for horrible people,” is an awful version of Apples to Apples. By awful, of couse, I mean amazing, clever, and delightfully insane.

In a perfect world all my favorite people would congregate with finely craft beer and Jets Pizza and partake in a few friendly rounds of CAH.

→ Adobe CS6 Installer: Continuing a proud tradition of user hostility

Against my better judgment, I have opted, once again, to upgrade my current version of the Adobe Creative Suite (5.5) to the new version (6.0)

What a disaster. The CS4 install story is the best read but still, Adobe needs to pick it up.

→ Epic 20th Anniversary Original Soundtrack

To celebrate we’re giving away 20 of the best Epic tracks from our games over the years.  We’ve hand picked and remastered a soundtrack that includes everything from Jazz Jackrabbit to Unreal Tournament.

Click though to download free high quality MP3′s. Worth checking out for the excellent ‘Hope Runs Deep‘ from Gears of War 2 and the ridiculous ‘Cole Train Rap‘. Side note, everybody should spam their friends with Dom and Maria’s portrait.

Not much this week…deal with it…

→ Foursquare Adds Another Search Feature: Check-In History

Today the company launched the latest of several search features that continue to position Foursquare firmly as a formal local search engine: a fully searchable history page where users can review their entire check-in history, including photos, tips and who else was there.

This goes along with my thoughts a few days ago about Twitter search history. I understand for Twitter the past is not their focus but as it appears Foursquare shows how it should be done.

→ Facebook urges users to share organ-donor status

Starting today, users can add donor plans to their profile, just like they already note a hometown or alma mater, Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said on a blog post. There will also be a link to the official donor registry, the Menlo Park, California-based company said.

Nice initiative but does EVERYTHING about us have to published on profiles?

→ TAXING MY PATIENCE

I’ll conclude with this: If you read The New York Times arti­cle and found your­self outraged at Apple, take a step back and real­ize that being angry at Apple does noth­ing here. Instead focus that anger toward elect­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives — at all lev­els of gov­ern­ment — who are not beholden to cor­po­rate inter­ests. That’s where the real change will come from.

That article mentions Apple 92 times, Microsoft 3 times, Google 6 times. Same case as previous Times/Apple Exposé’s. I’m no money man but I’m sure all these large companies do their best to sidestep any taxes they can.

→ The Brooklyn Nets: I Call Technical Foul

Whether Jay Z opened up Adobe Illustrator and set the type on a curve himself or not remains a mystery but one thing is for sure: the logo family is technically worthless and embarrassing.

Don’t really have much of an opinion on the Brooklyn Nets new logo but I thought that line was rather humorous.

→ Go right (YouTube)

this is the best video ever.
jjvictor66

If you watch this and feel nothing, you cannot feel. Awesome video simple concept and anything with a reminder of the epic Game Over screen from Zelda 2 gets a thumbs up from me.

We’re all young and smart and were raised by wolves. But the phenomenon of reputation is a delicate thing. A person rises on a word and falls on a syllable. 

→ The Slow Decay Of The Microsoft Consumer

Consider this: Apple’s iPhone business alone is bigger than all of Microsoft’s businesses combined.

Slightly snarky article I really don’t agree with fully but the above line is insanity. Also check out Apple’s Second Quarter Results. “Net Profit Increases 94% Year-over-Year”. Who is buying all this stuff?

→ Spectrum Health unveils plans for 23-acre medical facility

The Spectrum Health System has officially unveiled its plan for construction of a multi-use medical facility at Three Mile Road and the East Beltline in Grand Rapids Township.

Of course they do…

→ Trials Evolution Earns Highest Grossing Day-Sales in Xbox LIVE Arcade History

Publisher Microsoft Studios is proud to announce that after the first 24 hours of sales, Trials Evolution has set a record for the highest grossing day-one sales in Xbox LIVE Arcade history.

Honestly well deserved. For $15 dollars I cannot think of RedLynx giving a better value then what is packed in that game. Also see Penny Arcade comic “Resignation“.

→ You’re Worth More Dead Than Alive

It’s a grisly subject, but it’s one that’s becoming ever more present in the medical world, and it shows no signs of disappearing yet.

Like the title and the .gif they put together for their infographic is rather good.

→ Dredg-Litho_5min.mov (YouTube)

An excerpt from the “Making of Catch” documentary.

Hopefully this sees the light of day. Video starts slow but stick with it the last few parts are awesome. Got some time you can watch a show where they play “Catch Without Arms” in its entirety and again it’s awesome. They have two shows in California in June that again, would be awesome to attend.

→ Obama attack video: Too “cool” to be president

The spot, which is called “cool,” shows the president dancing with Ellen DeGeneres, criticizing Kanye West, “slow jamming the news” with Jimmy Fallon, drinking a beer and singing an Al Green song.

Republicans reminding the public President Obama is human alongside all of us.  Obama’s job is not solely 100% of the time be working on making  ”your life any better”. Make your own damn life better. Absolutely abhorrent…

→ People Who Don’t Know How to Spell “Cologne”

Jessica Howard ‏ @Howie_lovee
I love it when you can still smell your boyfriends colon on you

Also make sure to see Capitals Joel Ward Scores Game 7 Overtime Winner – Bruins Fans Unleash N-Word Barrage on Twitter. The Cologne thing is just a spelling error but come on people these Bruins fans deserve to be called out and feel your scorn.

…in the end, they are only cats but cats to talk to just the same before in their own weaving and wending,

→ Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

In 1950, less than 10 percent of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27 percent of households had just one person. Solitary living does not guarantee a life of unhappiness, of course.

Of course it doesn’t but an interesting metric never the less. The whole article is filled with good metrics. Must read of the week.

→ RIM’s Sole Stand-Alone Outlet Serves as Reminder of Failed Corporate Strategy

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.—On a gray stretch of highway 25 miles northwest of Detroit, in a strip mall next to an OfficeMax and a dry cleaners, sits the only stand-alone BlackBerry retail store in North America.

Just read the article and check out the photo. Don’t watch the video the guys are dicks. “Even in Farmington Hills there’s lot’s of competition”. Like there isn’t money in Oakland county.  Assholes.

→ Twitter’s “Innovator’s Patent Agreement”

The Innovator’s Patent Agreement is a nice sentiment, but the loophole potential is simply too great, and it doesn’t (and can’t) address the fundamental problems and dysfunction in the patent system.

Good look into Twitter’s Innovator’s Patent Agreement. I should patent ‘Friday Links’  and grant everybody goodwill to do their own Friday Links posts even though I stole the idea from somebody else.

→ Twitter / @jeffgerstmann

Netflix has really made friends lists on consoles a boring place to visit. Oh, hey, great, a list of people streaming movies. Useful.

Agreed…fully… especially since everybody has changed their privacy settings to no longer show what they are watching.

→ Head Shaving – Making the Most of Nothing

In this millennium, however, it’s a whole new bald game. Head shaving has gone prime time. And not a moment too soon for guys like me, who would never have had the guts to take such a drastic measure if so many men hadn’t acted so bravely to make an odd look so mysteriously hip.

The one thing they don’t mention is the economics of cutting ones own hair. The article talks about the “bic” domes (full razor shave) but most people I think just buzz their hair down #1 and reap the benefits of saving hundreds of dollars a year in haircuts.I’m fairly certain it was Stephen Richards from Taproot that got me into doing the buzz cut for a decade.

→ Are TV and Video Games Making Kids Fat?

Children burned roughly twice as many calories playing Tekken 3 as they did sitting in one place, which translates to an extra 40 to 80 calories burned every hour. In other words, this traditional, “passive” video game was itself providing children with a form of exercise.

That is awesome. Also see ‘Is sugar toxic?‘ and ‘The Crisis in American Walking‘. The ‘everything is killing you and bad for you’ post of the week.

→ Flood Of Trials Evolution Players Take Down Microsoft’s Servers

The game went live yesterday, and over 100,000 players downloaded it and began posting their scores to the leaderboards. Because of the onslaught of new users, servers went down and resulted in error messages when leaderboards were accessed.

Good stuff. Looks like vanberge wasn’t alone having Trials Evolution issues. This should be fixed and everybody should pick up the game. Well worth a measly $15 bucks. Skip a fat burger lunch and get some Trials instead. Better for the ticker…but barely.

There comes a moment, when you get lost in the woods, when the woods begin to feel like home.

→ A ‘Marriage Plot’ Full Of Intellectual Angst

“I’m not really an autobiographical writer, though I use stuff from my life to make my stories seem real. But when I actually write about myself I get very confused.”

Speaking of Jeffrey Eugenides. Everybody should buy all his books and read them then watch The Virgin Suicides on DVD.

→ The Case of the Coffee Smart Cover

And thinking that I might experiment some more I decided to scrub the cover with ground coffee. So I ground some coffee at the coarsest grind setting and tipped it onto the cover.

Those Smart Covers are not cheap. GG from me to this guy to try something different.

→ Upgrade Today: Two-Year Countdown to End of Support for Windows XP

Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases for their time, but the technology environment has shifted. Technology continues to evolve and so do people’s needs and expectations.

At this point I practically use Windows XP daily and Office 2003 occasionally and they still work fine. Windows XP in particular will NEVER die. Honestly I really need a new PC…

→ EA Sports And The Rise Of The Screwmium Model

This is quite depressing.

For the sports titles I absolutely agree, EA’s methods are sad. It’s one of those “if they could get it right” it wouldn’t be so bad but especially with the Tiger Woods stuff it’s so “buyer beware” and they are just shanking their best customers in the butt. Also see: Did Bioware actually lie about the ending to Mass Effect 3?

→ THE ART OF RAP Directed by Ice-T Official Movie Trailer (YouTube)

If ‘The Art Of Rap” doesn’t have YOUR favorite rapper in it. It has your favorite rapper’s FAVORITE RAPPER @FINALLEVEL (Ice T)

Yup this looks pretty good. Everybody should also check out the doco Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.

→ While Apple is Criticized for Foxconn, Other Companies are Silent

In the last week I have asked Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Microsoft and others about their reports on labor conditions. Most responded with a boilerplate public relations message. Some didn’t even respond…Samsung, which sells more cellphones than Apple, gave no response.

Dicks. In this entire Chinese Manufacturing discussion it’s important to understand practically every major hardware provider has product built in the same type of factories as Apple.

→ Halo 4′s music headed “to another level” 

With the series out of Bungie’s hands, and development passed to 343 Industries, it’s clear that Halo 4 will be something of a departure from the established series template. That’s certainly the case for its soundtrack; Neil Davidge, a former member of Bristol-based trip-hop outfit Massive Attack, is composing the game’s music.

Not what I expected but for a long time I was a huge Massive Attack fan. Here are some samples of their work on Halo 4. Different but familiar. The work should end up good but cannot surpass the previous work (particularly the very underrated Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2). Martin O’Donnell did just amazing work. Damnit, here’s another.

Lots of YouTube stuff…and here’s a picture of Tepper.

→ EA Defends Itself Against Thousands of Anti-gay Letters

“Every one of EA’s games includes ESRB content descriptors so it’s hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content. This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment,” Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications told us.

While EA has been getting stepped on and shit upon for being the Worst Company in America in the shadows they have also been doing some good.

→ SSX 2012 Soundtrack Playlist (YouTube)

SSX Soundtrack Playlist!
ssx has the best video game soundtracks!

The new SSX game has a fantastic soundtrack. Some good Friday listening for everybody trudging though the day of work. Just hit play and enjoy. Game is $30 bucks this week at BestBuy and worth it. Damned EA… I don’t know who you hire as your audio advisers but they are worth every penny you pay them.

→ ADmented Reality – Google Glasses Remixed with Google Ads(YouTube)

When I saw Google had somehow forgotten to include any ads in their Project Glass promotional video I just couldn’t resist fixing that oversight for them.

So here is my slightly more realistic version of Google’s augmented reality glasses – now featuring contextual Google Ads!

Right when I first saw Project Glass all I could think of how Google would pump advertisements directly into your skull. It would be cool if Google could find a way for this technology to work with any eye wear and how it works with people with vision issues.

→ UNREAL BBC Augusta Masters 2012 Crazy Golf (YouTube)

I figured the BBC needed highlights of the radical innovations at Augusta this year…so i made them this video.

Poorly titled video but it’s PGA golf CG’d with Putt Putt. Tiger missing the loopy loop putt is pretty funny.

→ The Rock Insults Hell In A Cell Contenders (YouTube)

In the episode of Raw Is War leading up to Armageddon 2000 the rock shoots a funny interview where he insults the other contestants!

I’m rather certain I shared this out on Google Reader but this promo is so awesome. “I AM THE GAMEAAAAAA”. Classic…

→ Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’

In the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games.

An aging core demographic with time constraints to actually play real games but who still want to play games, wide availability, and low price commitment. That is how I always interpreted why these types of games are so popular. The article also doesn’t mention female players and that has to be on the rise. On the other side of the spectrum I wouldn’t say Call of Duty is a “Smart” game.