Posts by Jodi Chromey

Friday Links: Why Do Programmers Work at Night?

• Why programmers work at night.
• Buzzfeed has an interview with the creators of the Live Action Toy Story video that was all the rage this week.
• “Aaron’s Law” introduced, would change computer law so violating Terms of Service isn’t a felony
• The Empire responds to the White House’s Deathstar response. Probably related White House raises the number of signatures needed to get a response to a petition.
• Writers strive to get science right, and a seal of approval.
• Disney builds 8-bit street in London to promote “Wreck-it Ralph.”
• 8 insights about the coming era of interactive design.
• Typographic Star Wars prints.
• The psychology of a well-designed business card.

The Life & Death of the American Arcade

The Verge has a fascinating (and long) read, “For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade.”

“The crash of 1983 nearly killed off the entire video game industry. It wasn’t just arcades that suffered, though this marks the beginning of their very steep and permanent decline. History has told us that the rise of home gaming killed off arcades, and so our own laziness is to blame. To an extent, of course, that’s true. If this were a history of video games, it would be time to talk about Nintendo, and the epic release of the revolutionary NES console in 1985. This event reinvigorated a decimated industry, and ultimately gave birth to the video games ecosystem we all still live in. But that didn’t happen until 1985, and so it wasn’t technology that killed off the arcade, not to begin with. It’s fair to concede that the arcade, already dying, was allowed to stay dead because we were all happily gaming at home by the time anybody noticed that all of the actual arcades were disappearing, and fast.”

Live-Action Toy Story

While you probably don’t have an hour or so to sit and watch this live-action remake of Toy Story, you only need to spend a couple of minutes watching to see how amazing it is.

The White House Responds to the Death Star Petition

The White House’s response to the Death Star petition hit over the weekend. If you missed it, go read it. It includes this line:

Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

Friday Links: Justice League of Defaced American Currency

• The Justice League of Defaced American Currency.
• Imaging an English to Ned Flanders version of Google Translate.
• Did you find the time to watch that nutty Qualcomm CES Keynote? You totally should!
• There are now 181,000 social media gurus, ninjas, etc. on Twitter. Or at least 181,000 people who want to call themselves that kind of thing.
• Cultural fit matters in job interviews.
• New Book: The Anatomy of Type, Salon reviews it.
• Carrie Fisher makes peace with Princess Leia (beware some salty language).
• Star Wars Trilogy as maps.
• Schoolhouse Rock turns 40.
• Geek Girls & Boy Kings, on being a woman at Facebook and in Silicon Valley.

KCTV drops by The Nerdery’s Kansas City office

KCTV in Kansas City, dropped by our Kansas City office to check out the digs and talk about or drive to hire 100 Nerds in 100 Days. You can watch the video below, and you should if only to see the female news anchor launch into that rap from “Revenge of the Nerds,” well and to see our KC Nerds too.

KCTV5

Registration for Twin Cities 2013 Overnight Website Challenge Is Open

For five years we’ve tiptoed around the calendar to avoid hosting The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge on the spring-forward weekend commencing Daylight Savings Time. But come March 9-10, while the outside world deals with losing a mere hour of sleep, it’ll be pro-bono business as usual as teams of volunteer web pros serve qualified nonprofit organizations for 24 hours in a row. Registration is open for the nerdy & the needy.

New this year: Instead of having weary teams present nonprofit websites at the conclusion of a challenging 24-hour sprint, better-rested participants will reconvene a few weeks after Web Challenge weekend to present their fully-realized accomplishments at The Nerdery on April 2. You can get the full scoop in the News Section.

Eligible nonprofits (501c3-registered organizations in Minnesota) can apply by February 8 for the opportunity by articulating their vision of how nerds could further their mission through better use of interactive technology. After completing their application, nonprofits can direct their fans to post supporting testimonials to their online profiles; selection judges will favor nonprofits whose applications by its constituents, including people served by the organization, donors, volunteers, staff, board members and other supporters.

Volunteer teams must self-organize with 8-10 web pros by February 8. Team captains recruit their peers and cover these skill sets: front-end development; back-end development; project management; strategy; UX; graphic design; copywriting; QA.

The Nerdery will announce selected nonprofits and teams on February 18, but neither the need nor the nerdy will know with whom they’ll be paired until the 24-hour countdown clock begins ticking at 9 a.m. on March 9.

Big days ahead
February 8 – Registration deadline for nerds and nonprofits
February 18 – Selected teams and nonprofits announced
February 26 – Needy-meets-nerdy mixer at Benchmark Learning
March 9-10 – Web Challenge weekend at U of MN Continuing Education Conference Center
April 2 – Judgement day, teams and nonprofits present their work at The Nerdery

Robots playing Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’

It’s Monday, so why not some heavy metal awesomeness? Found on Boing Boing.

Friday Links: Most Visited Wikipedia Pages & More

• A Lorem Ipsum type generator that uses Commander Riker’s dialogue on Star Trek: The Next Generation instead of Latin.
• For the healthy, delete my browser history medic alert bracelet.
• 6 common tech myths that cost you money.
• Most visited Wikipedia pages of 2012.
• Stanley Kubrick wrote a letter so IBM was clear that HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey was a robot.
• 50 most anticipated indie games of 2013.
• An illustrated talk between Terry Gross & Maurice Sendak.
• Want: Pantone 2013 wall calendar also Chewbacca hoodie.
• This is one you have to look at to see how awesome it is: wooden charts showing underwater topographical features.

Blink to the Future: A Dr. Who/Back to the Future Mashup