firehose

An anonymous reader writes "A study released Wednesday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute reinforces what a number of researchers have come to believe: that the STEM worker shortage is a myth. The EPI study found that the United States has 'more than a sufficient supply of workers available to work in STEM occupations.' Basic dynamics of supply and demand would dictate that if there were a domestic labor shortage, wages should have risen. Instead, researchers found, they've been flat, with many Americans holding STEM degrees unable to enter the field and a sharply higher share of foreign workers taking jobs in the information technology industry. (IT jobs make up 59 percent of the STEM workforce, according to the study.)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By Samit Sarkar on Apr 26, 2013 at 11:30a

Sango Fight, a side-scrolling beat-'em-up based on ancient Chinese history, launched yesterday on the iTunes App Store and bears strong similarities to Warriors of Fate, a 1992 arcade game by Capcom.

Warriors of Fate offered three-player action in which you played as one of five generals of the Shu kingdom while defeating enemies from the Wei kingdom, a setup based on the classic Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

A Chinese reader alerted us to Sango Fight, which was released yesterday by the Chinese studio Logic Ball. The $0.99 iOS title features the same setup as Warriors of Fate — side-scrolling beat-'em-up with five playable Shu characters, Wei enemies — and it even looks almost identical to the 21-year-old Capcom game.

Here's a screenshot from the character select screen of Warriors of Fate (the names differ from those of the Chinese Shu generals because in the English version, they were changed to Mongolian names):

Compare those characters to the sprites that appear in the Sango Fight screenshot at the top of this article. They're identical. We've reached out to both Logic Ball and Capcom for comment, and will update this story with any new information we receive.

• Source
• Sango Fight on iTunes App Store

Dead at 81, George Jones
(the DUI on a lawn mower story is true)

By Alexa Ray Corriea on Apr 26, 2013 at 11:00a

CCP Games' supernatural horror massively-multiplayer online title World of Darkness, announced in 2006 and quietly in development since, is still in the works, with the developer announcing production plans for the coming year at EVE Fanfest today.

Massively reports CCP's development team for World of Darkness is now 70 strong, and they have spent some time sharpening up the game's server infrastructure, art tools, social options and "vampire powers." This year the team plans to hone the web-based social tools for the title as well as its clothing and player-versus-environment systems. World of Darkness will also feature item creation tools but likely not a crafting system.

"You're a powerful, immortal lord of the night," the presenter said, according to Massively. "You don't want to stitch a shirt."

The game is in pre-production still, according to CCP, but the company showed off a few videos demonstrating its current state. The company also demoed several tools it hopes will speed up the development process on background content, like cities and individual buildings, and object shading.

World of Darkness, based on the pen-and-paper RPG Vampire: The Masquerade by Mark Rein·Hagen, was announced at Eve Fanfest in 2006 and entered full production in 2009. The game will emphasize political conflict and players' interactions.

Eve Fanfest, the annual conference held by CCP Games for its titles Eve Online and Dust 514, is currently underway in Reykjavik, Iceland.

It turns out that Rand Paul is actually okay with drone strikes against US citizens within the United States as long as the strikes are on bad guys.

AFP

HIV vaccine trial ends in failure: official AFP WASHINGTON — US authorities announced Thursday they have halted clinical trials of an experimental vaccine designed to halt the virus that leads to AIDS after discovering it did not stop infection. The program, which began in 2009, is the latest in a series ... and more »

candypriceless:

Dolph Lundgren and Grace Jones

By Michael McWhertor on Apr 25, 2013 at 10:30p

Valve will release the Left 4 Dead 2 beta build to a wider audience next week, allowing anyone who already owns the title to play the version of the game where the developer performs testing. In addition to gaining access to the Extended Mutation System in the Left 4 Dead 2 beta build, users can also test the Linux version of the game.

The Left 4 Dead 2 beta build — a separate download from the main game — will begin appearing next week in the Steam library of those who own the commercially released version. It only connects to other players participating in the beta and to beta servers, Valve notes, and players who are bandwidth constrained "might want to wait for the changes to move to the main game."

Left 4 Dead 2 was one of the first Valve games announced for Linux support, but a release date for the game has not been announced.

Valve announced L4D2's Extended Mutation System in February, releasing it to beta testers. The game's EMS is designed to let modders create deeper, more customizable maps and Mutations.

By Jenna Pitcher on Apr 26, 2013 at 12:30a

Oakland's video game museum, the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE), has recreated Oakland in Minecraft as part of an exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California this weekend

The Oakland Museum of California approached MADE to put on an exhibit as part of the Museum's customization gallery. Rather than exhibiting "static games showing off how developers can customize ideas," MADE wanted to get "creative interaction" out of the attendees.

MADE hired Minecraft artist, HuskerGirlKC, to help recreate the city alongside other other builders in the child-safe Paradise Minecraft Server.

The organization considered using Team Fortress 2 for the exhibit as an example of how "gamers can customize their games, and make something entirely new in the process," but they deemed it too violent to put on display for kids and families.

The exhibit will run from 5 - 8 pm PDT, April 26 in the Customization room at the OMCA. Two more showings will be held on April 27 and 28, from 1 to 3 pm PDT. Screenshots of the in-game construction are on the MADE website.

• Image Source
• Flickr user Vonguard

“She’s not backing down. Ten days after Selena Gomez first offended some Hindus by wearing a bindi on her forehead during her Bollywood-inspired performance of “Come and Get It” at the MTV Movie Awards on Apr. 14, the Spring Breakers star again sported the religious symbol for an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman.”

- Selena Gomez Wears Bindi for 4th Time Despite Controversy

Jimmy McMillan “Rent Is Too Damn High” Anthem (by animalnewyork)

Maybe Dad likes playing Candy Land with the kids more when the Queen Frostine is looking like one of those weird cartoon porn characters with phallic popsicles propped up all over her Ice Palace.

By Michael McWhertor on Apr 25, 2013 at 8:21p

The next game in the Scribblenauts series will feature various DC superheroes and villains, according to a report from IGN who says the game will make an appearance at this year's E3.

5th Cell's DC-infused Scribblenauts game was reportedly once known as Scribblenauts Unmasked and planned to feature protagonist Max working alongside the superheroes of the DC universe. IGN says locations like Wayne Manor and Atlantis and characters including Batman, Robin, The Joker, Aquaman, Harley Quinn and more are featured in the game. Assumedly, they'll appear in a more official capacity than the fan-made versions of DC characters as seen in the above screenshot of Scribblenauts Unlimited.

The game is reportedly in development for PC, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, the same platforms targeted for Scribblenauts Unlimited.

A DC superhero-themed Scribblenauts would be in line with publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's recent efforts to capitalize on the property. WBIE tapped Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm to develop the DC fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us and has developer Turbine making Infinite Crisis, a MOBA-style game featuring DC's stable of heroes.

If you're a coffee snob, be prepared to laugh uncomfortably.

The patterns are eerily similar.

The killing of Officer Collier at MIT was the first bloody altercation in a nearly 24-hour chain of violent events that left one of the brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings dead and ended with the capture of the other.

We still don’t know exactly what motivated Dzhokar. What’s clear, though, is that the part of his soul that decided to participate in a plan to blow up a bomb at the Boston marathon is not so familiar to most of us—and that’s exactly the puzzling incongruity of his bro-ishnes.

AFP

Yahoo Chairman Joins Recent Boardroom Exodus ABC News Yahoo could use a revolving door in its boardroom. In the latest exit, Chairman Alfred Amoroso will become the eighth Yahoo Inc. director to depart since early last year. He will leave the board on June 25 at Yahoo Inc.'s annual shareholders meeting, the ... Yahoo Chairman Amoroso Resigns After Whirlwind Year On The JobForbes Yahoo! board chairman steps downAFP Amoroso quits as Yahoo chairmanLos Angeles Times Wall Street Journal -The Atlantic Wire -Bloomberg all 29 news articles »

By Tracey Lien on Apr 25, 2013 at 7:30p

Having strong, relatable characters in mobile games is becoming increasingly important for app discoverability and keeping players engaged, according to PlayFirst VP of product management and marketing, Becky Ann Hugest.

Speaking to Polygon ahead of today's launch of the studio's latest puzzle-match arcade game, Deep Sea Deli, Hugest said that as the mobile games market becomes more and more crowded, recognizable and relatable characters are fast becoming just as important as fun game mechanics.

"We did an analysis of the App Store a while ago and we looked at all the icons in the store, and most of the top games have strong, cute, compelling characters in the icon and screenshots, which really compels people to click and download the app," Hugest said. "Having a brand and having recognizable characters is going to become more important than less important."

Hugest explained that having a compelling character at a basic presentation level is only a small part of it, though. In order for these characters to play an effective role in helping developers establish their brand and identity, the characters needs to be well integrated into the games and serve a purpose. She cites examples of PlayFirst's top-selling game Diner Dash and the recently released Deep Sea Deli as successful examples, and also points out successes by the developers of Cut The Rope, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga.

"Having a brand and having recognizable characters is going to become more important than less important."

"For example, Cut the Rope ran a campaign last week developing out the character of Om Nom, and it was really great. The character art in Clash of Clans has some real emotion, and Bookworm Heroes by PopCap is very character-driven," she said. "What we're starting to find is the top apps in the App Store really do have some strong, character-driven brands. Even Candy Crush Saga has a story and a progression model, and it's probably one of the most successful arcades games on the App Store right now."

According to Hugest, the characters in all the above mentioned games feature characters that are integrated into the core of the game mechanic. So in a game like Deep Sea Deli, Narly the Narwhal coaches players through the game and is always present during the puzzles, reacting to the player's performance. The characters at the bottom of the screen requesting sandwiches each have a tendency to request a certain type of sandwich, and they have different personalities and mannerisms.

"What we find is having those characters integrated into the core of the game mechanic is the first thing needed to be successful. The second thing is to make sure the characters are tied to the feedback mechanism in the game so they have some functional benefit to the game instead of just being tacked on," she said.

In Deep Sea Deli, every character that appears on screen plays a role, whether it's the sea creatures ordering sandwiches, or the little fish named Hoover who is used to "clear" the game board by eating up scraps.

Hugest told Polygon that what we're seeing on the mobile game market is a trend that has happened in previous casual game markets as well, especially on PC.

"The PC download business went through the same thing where they started out with more generic, non-story driven games," she said. "Then it started to gravitate toward more character, story-driven games as the market matured.

"We're seeing the same thing in the mobile realm."

Deep Sea Deli is now available on the iTunes App Store. PlayFirst recently launched a "gossip blog" for its game characters.

KaleidoPope is an interactive site by Michael Silber that creates colorful kaleidoscopic papal images. Silber describes it as a “visual pun that’s compelling to engage with.”

I composed a photo collage of historic portraits, which is then abstracted when viewed in repeated slices. The lavish textile patterns and mosaic textures provide a rich material for the abstraction.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

As Google’s Glass device trickles out to developers and early adopters, debates about its use in public continue to simmer online. And if you think it’s weird to speak commands to a computer that you’re wearing on your face, or that there are places where wearing Glass is inappropriate, you should know that Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt feels the same way.

Speaking at an event at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Schmidt said that controlling Glass with voice recognition is "the weirdest thing," reports The Wall Street Journal. He went on to say that "there are obviously places" where Google Glass would be considered inappropriate, but ultimately felt that society would adapt and invent new etiquette and rules around the use of Glass, according to one attendee.

"It's so new, we decided to be more cautious."

Later, Schmidt touched on Google’s app distribution strategy for Glass, pointing out that the company would be pre-approving all Glass apps, and contrasting the approach with the more open market for Android software. "It’s so new, we decided to be more cautious," explained the chairman, noting that it’s always possible to open the platform up down the road. Lastly, if you long for the good old days when people could talk to one another without constantly staring at their cellphones, Schmidt thinks you’re out of luck. "If you like eye contact, I’m sorry, you lost," he said.

• Source Reuters
• Related Items glass google glass privacy voice recognition voice control eric schmidt google Glass Google Displays Headphones / Headsets

Comedian and breast cancer survivor Tig Notaro was recently a guest on Conan and gave host Conan O’Brien some dry-witted “lessons in remaining present” (while receiving cat images from a friend and making a call). In 2012, Notaro talked about her bout with stage 2 breast cancer on the show.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

The #FreeJahar movement is a strange hybrid phenomenon—part conspiracy-mongering, part gushing fandom, part political movement, part self-promotional tool, structured by social media, populated almost entirely by teenagers and stubbornly resistant to argument.

By Nathan Grayson on April 25th, 2013 at 11:05 pm.

Too often, I wonder if the gaming industry shouldn’t just switch over to producing new versions of musical chairs and duck-duck-goose full-time. It does, after all, seem to be what we’re best at. Projects wrap, publishers “restructure,” and the unemployment line has to change the hinges on its revolving door. Again. This year, especially, has been viciously unkind on the layoff and closures front, and after a brief reprieve, it looks like the infernal old machine is whirring back to life. EA’s now confirmed a major round of layoffs of its own, though it won’t divulge exact numbers or details as to who’s been affected. Sources, however, are putting the grand total in the hundreds.

First up, here’s EA’s official statement on the matter:

“In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends.”

“These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.”

Initial reports claimed the chopping block saw more than 1,000 fresh faces – or more than 10 percent of EA’s previously 9,000-strong workforce – but others (for instance, this one on Polygon) are alleging the number’s actually in the hundreds. Regardless – and this probably doesn’t need stating – that’s a lot of people.

Among others, PopCap Vancouver and Quicklime have been completely closed down according to ex-employees. And of course, EA Partners’ closure is rumored to be another major driving force behind this unfortunate turn of events. Meanwhile, February saw big, disarmingly cheery layoffs at EA Montreal and Los Angeles, and of course, CEO John Riccitiello (whose name I only just figured out how to spell right before it ceased to matter) stepped down last month.

Clearly, change is afoot. What kind of change? Well, the company recently claimed it could “do better” and completely failed to understand what it was doing wrong all in the same breath, so I’m not going to feign optimism. As for what’s next, I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. For now, though, best of luck to all affected. Layoffs are completely miserable, but all you can really do is keep on moving.

A social media analytics company has won access to Twitter's data after the social network attempted to cut it off, an outcome that may come as a surprise to third party developers who feel jerked around by Twitter's capriciousness when it comes to data access.

Twitter finalized an out-of-court settlement today with PeopleBrowsr, the parent company of social influence startup Kred, which will receive access to Twitter's "firehose" of data for the rest of the year. "We're excited, we're ecstatic," PeopleBrowsr CEO Andrew Grill told The Verge. "It'll be business as usual for our clients."

At the time, Twitter dismissed the suit as preposterous

PeopleBrowsr sued Twitter in November, alleging that shutting off the data connection violated Twitter's initial commitment to openness and endangered PeopleBrowsr's business. "We'd been in a commercial relationship with them for a number of years, and they advised us that they didn't want to continue that," Grill recalled. "So we basically were in dispute because taking away access to the Twitter firehose would be detrimental to our business."

At the time, Twitter dismissed the suit as without merit. Twitter argued that it should have full control over its own data and that if the court ruled otherwise, Twitter said, it would be tantamount to ordering the social network to work with PeopleBrowsr, which is illegal. The San Francisco Superior Court disagreed, however, saying the complaint had merit.

Twitter's "firehose" is the the massive stream of real-time data that the company makes available for third party apps to use. In the early days, Twitter made these deals directly with companies that wanted firehose access. But recently, Twitter has been handing off those licensing deals to three data providers: DataSift, Gnip, and Topsy, which then rent out parts of the firehose to smaller-fry companies. That's what PeopleBrowsr will have to do after December 31.

The settlement is not quite a victory for PeopleBrowsr

"We’re pleased to have this matter dismissed with prejudice, and look forward to PeopleBrowsr’s transition by the end of the year off of the Firehose to join the ecosystem of developers utilizing Twitter data via our reseller partnerships," Twitter said in a statement.

The settlement is not quite a victory for PeopleBrowsr, which claims that it needs more access than Twitter's official providers can supply. However, Twitter has been scaling back access to its data for a while, and most developers found they had little recourse other than to accept the social network's decisions. In that sense, PeopleBrowsr is one of the few companies that has successfully fought back.

• Image Credit KevinKrejci (Flickr)
• Related Items kred peoplebrowsr twitter twitter firehouse third party apps data access walled garden

Reader Patrick In Chicago is one of a few readers to write with this unpleasant news: "Computer-based testing provider Pearson Vue is now in day 5 of a global outage, preventing test-takers worldwide from sitting for exams. I was personally turned away from a Cisco exam on Wednesday morning because Pearson was unable to deliver. Countless people have posted to Pearson Vue's Facebook page detailing various states of panic. There are people who have certifications expiring. Others are unable to sit their medical board exams. Still others are unable to sit exams that they are required to pass in order to work — Pearson Vue's incompetence has actually prevented people from going out and making a paycheck." This reminds me of a friend of mine who had to wait half a year to re-take his bar exam, because of a software glitch on the part of ExamSoft's software.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Belgian designer Carl de Smet is developing a smart polymer chair that can be purchased in a small collapsed form and then expanded to its full size and shape after purchase. The chair is made of shape memory polyurethane, which allows it to be expanded with the use of heat or electricity. Test versions currently expand at temperatures of 158 degrees Fahreneheit, but future versions will become soft and pliable at body temperature, allowing the chair to conform to the person sitting in it. For more on de Smet’s novel chair design, see this BBC article & video.

via Fast Company Co.Exist

Comedian J-L Cauvin does a hilarious dead-on impression of fellow comedian Louis C.K. telling classic jokes (like “Why did the chicken cross the road?) in a trailer for a fake special titled “Louis C.K. Tells The Classics.”

via UPROXX

letsbuildahome-fr:

Soasig Chamaillard

Texts From Superheroes is a Tumblr blog featuring witty iPhone text exchanges between comic book heroes and villains. The blog is run by internet comedian Diana McCallum and stand-up comedian Andrew Ivimey.

images via Texts From Superheroes

via Luis Figueroa, Nerd Approved