Musician Marian Call, who is currently Kickstarting her upcoming album, has written a long piece on her blog about what it takes to Kickstart a project, and — critically — throws in numbers and figures to back up her thoughts and comments. The result is a genuinely super-useful piece that should be required reading for anyone thinking of crowdfunding a project, no matter the size. Marian is very smart and very on point. Go learn from her.
On a personal note, Marian confirms that the amount of work involved in successfully pulling of a Kickstarter-like crowdfunding project is immense, which is a primary reason I have to date avoided doing anything like it. I can barely get it together to put on pants in the morning. To deal with the sustained effort of everything a successful Kickstarter project entails? Well, damn. I’d curl up in a ball and cry. There’s a reason I’m happy to be working with a publisher.
A newly discovered malware family that preys on jailbroken iPhones has collected login credentials for more than 225,000 Apple accounts, making it one of the largest Apple account compromises to be caused by malware.
KeyRaider, as the malware family has been dubbed, is distributed through a third-party repository of Cydia, which markets itself as an alternative to Apple's official App Store. Malicious code surreptitiously included with Cydia apps is creating problems for people in China and at least 17 other countries, including France, Russia, Japan, and the UK. Not only has it pilfered account data for 225,941 Apple accounts, it has also disabled some infected phones until users pay a ransom, and it has made unauthorized charges against some victims' accounts.
Researchers with Palo Alto Networks worked with members of the Chinese iPhone community Weiphone after members found the unauthorized charges. In a blog post published Sunday, the Palo Alto Networks researchers wrote:
Not even an early downpour could ruin the fun of yesterday's Dog's Day of Summer—the Portland Mercury's annual wiener dog and pug races held at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub! After a quick drenching rain at the beginning, the weather settled down and the most exciting races of the year began! Want to see some pics and videos?
Across India an entire category of architecture is slowly crumbling into obscurity, and you’ve probably never even heard it. Such was the case 30 years ago when Chicago journalist Victoria Lautman made her first trip to the country and discovered the impressive structures called stepwells. Like gates to the underworld, the massive subterranean temples were designed as a primary way to access the water table in regions where the climate vacillates between swelteringly dry during most months, with a few weeks of torrential monsoons in the spring.
Thousands of stepwells were built in India starting around the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. where they first appeared as rudimentary trenches but slowly evolved into much more elaborate feats of engineering and art. By the 11th century some stepwells were commissioned by wealthy or powerful philanthropists (almost a fourth of whom were female) as monumental tributes that would last for eternity. Lautman shares with Arch Daily about the ingenious construction of the giant wells that plunge into the ground up to 10 stories deep:
Construction of stepwells involved not just the sinking of a typical deep cylinder from which water could be hauled, but the careful placement of an adjacent, stone-lined “trench” that, once a long staircase and side ledges were embedded, allowed access to the ever-fluctuating water level which flowed through an opening in the well cylinder. In dry seasons, every step—which could number over a hundred—had to be negotiated to reach the bottom story. But during rainy seasons, a parallel function kicked in and the trench transformed into a large cistern, filling to capacity and submerging the steps sometimes to the surface. This ingenious system for water preservation continued for a millennium.
Because of an increasing drop in India’s water table due to unregulated pumping, most of the wells have long since dried up and are now almost completely neglected. While some stepwells near areas of heavy tourism are well maintained, most are used as garbage dumping grounds and are overgrown with wildlife or caved in completely. Many have fallen completely off the map.
Inspired by an urgency to document the wells before they disappear, Lautman has traveled to India numerous times in the last few years and taken upon herself to locate 120 structures across 7 states. She’s currently seeking a publisher to help bring her discoveries and photographs to a larger audience, and also offers stepwell lectures to architects and universities. If you’re interested, get in touch.
You can read a more comprehensive account of stepwells by Lautman on Arch Daily.
Consider these monthly and annual costs if you're looking to start a city life, and remember, these estimates do not include savings or discretionary spending:
I guess you guys built enough stuff in Mario vs. Donkey Kong or whatever! Nintendo will release the Famicom Disk System-exclusive VS. Excitebike today. Ever wondered what it would be like to play Excitebike with someone else? Or what it would be like to build a track and not have it go down the memory hole? Find out today! Imma excite buy it!
In the video for Iron Maiden’s new song, “Speed Of Light,” the band’s mascot Eddie The Head shows up in various styles of video games based on famous Iron Maiden album covers. Run To The Hills is a fighting game, Somewhere In Time is visualized as a side-scrolling shooter, Killers is now a Donkey Kong-style platformer, and so on. If the footage shown in the video is the arcade version, then the new playable Speed Of Light is the cheaper NES port with graphics that just aren’t as good.
In the free game available on the band’s website, the player takes on the role of Eddie, who must travel up ladders, avoid rolling barrels, and rescue the princess from the big bad. (However, since this is a game based on the music of Iron Maiden, the princess is a redhead clad in a skimpy dress, high ...
After Ann Coulter referred to President Obama as a “retard” in a tweet during Monday night’s presidential debate, Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens penned her this open letter:
Dear Ann Coulter, Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult? I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night. I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have. Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next. Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift. Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more. After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV. I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash. Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor. No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
once upon a midnight dreary as i shuffled, coffee-bleary over to a starbucks, which was open until four while i studied, nearly napping suddenly there came a snapping as of someone gently rapping— rapping about cheaper stores ‘tis some kanye,’ i muttered, ‘rapping about this cheap store- only kanye; nothing more.’
and yet still, his strength unsapping he is rapping! he is rapping! over coffeeshop intercoms from new york to jersey shore; and his beats are so strange-seeming that i think i must be dreaming and i know that he is scheming to deliver raps galore. and i ask him now: “who art thou, shopping thrifty, as if poor?” quoth the rapper - ‘Macklemore!’
'Google stridently denies that it’s tracking any of your activity on the internet with this router. It also says that the OnHub will work with any ISP, though your ISP might try to convince you that only its router works with its service.' ... 'Google also says the OnHub is set up for future smarthome products, including its own forthcoming Weave platform, and it has built-in Bluetooth and Zigbee radios that are not currently enabled.'
The lowly router is a necessary evil. It’s a device we can’t live without, but often feels like an arcane relic from an era when boxy tube monitors and dial-up modems ruled. The router is the gateway to high-speed internet in our homes, and it enables us to wirelessly connect countless gadgets — smartphones, laptops, TVs, thermostats, speakers, coffee makers, game consoles, the list goes on — to the internet. It’s only going to get more important as more and more appliances rely on Wi-Fi connectivity for modern conveniences.
As important as they are, routers are equally notorious for being unattractive, difficult to set up, unreliable, and generally unpleasant to use. Most people use the router provided to them by their internet service provider (ISP), which may have terrible wireless range and a ridiculously complex setup process. Aftermarket routers, whether it be a model from Netgear, Asus, or even Apple, can provide better coverage and wireless range, but even those aren’t the easiest things to set up or manage.
Google is attempting to flip that paradigm on its head with its new line of OnHub Wi-Fi routers. The first OnHub router is a $199 model manufactured by TP-Link to Google’s design and specifications. It's shipping this week and doesn’t look anything like a traditional router. A sleek cylinder with a matte blue or black finish, the OnHub ditches the traditional array of blinking lights for a single glowing status ring, and is something you could put anywhere in your house without much embarrassment. And the OnHub doesn’t just look good: it’s packed with powerful antennas to ensure optimal wireless coverage and throughput throughout your home. It’s all controlled with an easy-to-use app, making setup and troubleshooting much easier than with traditional routers.
With the OnHub, Google is trying to solve the three biggest pain points of routers — setup, coverage, and troubleshooting — and build a wireless portal for the future. Did it also happen to create the perfect router? After switching out my current router and using the OnHub for the past few days in my own home, I want to say that Google has come awfully close, with just a couple of downsides that may or may not matter to you.
Google is spending a lot of its marketing efforts around the OnHub talking about its design, and rightly so. The OnHub doesn’t look like any traditional router, save for perhaps Apple’s AirPort Extreme. It’s a sleek cylinder with no protruding antennas, lighting arrays, or ISP logos. All of that is for a reason: Google wants you to place the OnHub centrally in your home, which is the most ideal position for wireless coverage and range. To get most people to do that, it can’t look like something that dropped out of an alien spacecraft.
The OnHub doesn't look like it fell out of an alien spacecraft
Google’s point of centrally locating the OnHub in your home is valid: if it’s the same distance from every room in the house, wireless coverage is maximized to its full potential. Walls, furniture, appliances, and all of the normal stuff people have in their homes can block Wi-Fi signals, so having fewer of those in the way makes for a better experience. But the problem with this ideal concept is that most people’s broadband modem often isn’t in the center of the home. The OnHub has to be plugged into the modem in order to access the internet, making it extremely difficult to put it in a different physical location than your modem. Fortunately, the OnHub’s powerful wireless range made this a non-issue: I put it upstairs in my home office next to my cable modem, where my prior router was located. (More on wireless coverage later.)
Setting up the OnHub in my home was painless: I plugged it in, downloaded the app to my smartphone (OnHub has apps for Android and iOS), and went through the setup process. That involves holding my phone near the router to pair it via audio signal and start the initial configuration, which is a lot easier than trying to directly connect my phone to a temporary wireless network or pair it over Bluetooth. All in all, I was up and running in less than five minutes, including naming my network and picking a password that I could easily remember.
Even after you’ve set it up, you still might actually find yourself opening the OnHub’s mobile app. It makes it incredibly easy to see what devices are connected to your network and which ones are using the most bandwidth. You can prioritize bandwidth to specific devices, so if you’re having an online gaming session or want to stream 4K content to your TV, you can allocate the most bandwidth to those tasks. Rebooting the router is also done right from the app, as is updating its firmware, which Google says happens automatically. You can also share the network’s password with a friend just by showing them a screen from the app.
Setup and troubleshooting are all done through the app
It also lets you run speed tests — both from your ISP to your modem and from the OnHub to your wireless devices — making it easy to identify where a bottleneck might be occurring. The app even tells you what your speed enables you to do: whether that’s stream ultra HD 4K content or something less bandwidth-intensive, giving actual meaning to the upload and download numbers.
One last thing: Google stridently denies that it’s tracking any of your activity on the internet with this router. It also says that the OnHub will work with any ISP, though your ISP might try to convince you that only its router works with its service.
A dimmable LED ring is the only indicator light on the OnHub
Prior to the OnHub, I had been using an Asus RT-AC66U dual-band wireless router in my modest, two-story, four-bedroom home. The Asus cost me about $200 and is a highly-rated router, with configurable antennas, 2.4GHz and 5GHz network support, and lots of settings and options. At any given time, I would have a dozen or more devices connected to it, including smartphones, tablets, speakers, set top boxes, laptops, lightbulbs, and smoke detectors. But despite its cost and feature set, the Asus still needed the help of a wireless repeater to provide coverage in my downstairs bedroom. Other parts of the home had dead or extremely slow zones, and the video monitor we use for watching our infant would completely interfere with the 2.4GHz network, rendering it unusable.
My expectations for the OnHub were thusly set: I was sure that placing it in my office would result in a similar experience I had with the Asus (and I wasn’t interested in piping Ethernet wires throughout my home to put it in a different spot). But I’ve had zero issues with the OnHub: coverage has been shockingly good, I haven’t needed to use the wireless repeater at all, and the interference I saw with the baby monitor has disappeared. In areas that were formerly dead zones, the OnHub has given me enough bandwidth and throughput to stream 4K video, even in my basement, a full two stories below my office. This is despite putting the router in a less-than-ideal location: upstairs, in my office, far from our general living areas.
Coverage and throughput are shockingly good
To make that happen, the OnHub employs a total of 13 internal antennas: six for its 2.4GHz network, six for 5GHz, and one to monitor the network and automatically tune the radios to the best settings. Google says the antennas are arranged within the OnHub for the best possible coverage regardless of how the router itself is positioned. The front-facing 2.4GHz antenna has also been custom designed with a special reflector to boost coverage in that direction.
All of that means I didn’t have to do anything to optimize the radio coverage (nor could I, really). I just put the OnHub in my office, set it up, and went about my life. Unlike a lot of routers, the OnHub doesn’t broadcast separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Instead, the same network name (or SSID) covers both frequencies, and the OnHub will dynamically adjust network depending on which frequency offers the best blend of coverage, speed, and minimal interference. (Typically, 2.4GHz networks have broader range, while 5GHz ones have higher throughput and less interference from other devices, such as my baby monitor.) That makes it easy when adding a device to the network: there’s only one option to choose from and one password you need to input.
There are a couple of things that make the OnHub less than perfect, and they center around Google’s oversimplified design. The OnHub only has one Ethernet LAN port, which was quickly filled by my Philips Hue, leaving me no other ports to plug in any other smart home gadget that requires a dedicated hub or use a wired connection with my desktop computer. To get more ports, I’d have to purchase and use a network hub, which adds another level of cost and complexity that the OnHub was designed to eliminate. There’s also only one USB port on the OnHub, making it impossible to use both a media server and a backup hard drive at the same time.
Ethernet jacks and USB ports are limited on the OnHub
Most of those complaints are power-user issues, I admit, but they are features that buyers of $200 routers have come to expect. Google says this OnHub is only the first in a line, however. Future models from other manufacturers, including Asus, are coming later on. It’s certainly possible that those models could include more USB and Ethernet ports, though there’s no guarantee that they will or how much they might cost if they do.
Google also says the OnHub is set up for future smarthome products, including its own forthcoming Weave platform, and it has built-in Bluetooth and Zigbee radios that are not currently enabled. The company claims that it will be improving the OnHub over time with more features and capabilities via firmware updates, but beyond adding the aforementioned smarthome support, it’s not clear what exactly those upgrades will offer. One thing that doesn’t seem possible with this model is Amazon Echo-like functionality: the OnHub has a speaker, but lacks a microphone, making it unable to respond to voice controls.
Of course, the million-dollar (or $199) question here is: do you really need to spend this much on a wireless router when you can get one for free from your ISP or choose a basic third-party option for as little as $50? Many of my colleagues balked at the price of the OnHub when it was announced a couple of weeks ago, but as someone who’s already been down the road of buying a high-end router to cover my home, I can easily see its value. If you live in a small apartment, chances are you don’t need the power the OnHub offers (though perhaps you could benefit from its simplicity and app-based control). But for any modest sized or larger home, the benefits of the OnHub are readily apparent: it just works better than any other router I’ve used, whether that was provided by my ISP or purchased separately.
The humble router has been important for years and will be increasingly important as more and more products add Wi-Fi features. A few years from now, things such as a Wi-Fi-enabled toaster, washing machine, door bell, or garage door opener won’t be the domain of early adopters, they will be commonplace. All of them require a solid Wi-Fi network and strong router powering that network. The OnHub may not be the first router designed specifically with that future in mind, but it’s by far the best option right now.
The OnHub does its job with no fuss or attention needed from me
Like most appliances, the router is supposed to be invisible, do its job, and stay out of your way. For the first time, I can say my router does just that — I don’t have to worry about whether or not my Wi-Fi is working with the OnHub because it just does. Google has a grander ambition for the OnHub and its followup products, but even if that never comes to fruition, having usable Wi-Fi anywhere in my home is worth the $199 to me.
The seemingly endless expanse of alpha updates that make up our coverage of Prison Architect [official site] – we’re up to Update 36 now, friends! – is coming to an end. It’s true, these collective hands of rock and paper will no longer know the gentle touch of Introversion Software’s regular patches. As we draw closer to its eventual October launch, the final Alpha update reads as follows:
With this patch comes a new random event system, an optional system that increases the unpredictability of disasters. You get power station and kitchen fires, workshop accidents that require medical attention, collapsing fences that can lead to mass escapes, contagious viruses, mass assassinations and prisoner demands. Along with a truly stupid amount of bug fixes that you can read about in detail by clicking here.
Remember the time when Spy Party’s Chris Hecker bemoaned how “every damned update Prison Architect does” gets a post on RPS because someone who works there just happens to like the game. Aah, it truly is the end of an era.
For many of us living in the Gulf Coast, the pomp and circumstance around Katrina at 10 has been difficult to stomach. Here are 10 local groups that define what it truly is to fight for the city.
"The shape of the bubble is much better"? Nobody wants to talk about the joints on the tail?
Condensed Speech
(Est. 2000) "StubHub is the world's largest ticket marketplace, enabling fans the choice to buy and sell tickets to tens of thousands of sports, concert, theater and other live entertainment events on desktop, tablet or mobile, as well as the ability to discover local live music through its iOS app StubHub Music. Offering a superior fan experience at its core, StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to lead it through innovation through numerous industry firsts, including the introduction of the industry's first ticketing application, first interactive seat mapping tool and the first live entertainment Fan Rewards program. The market leader, StubHub is partners with major organizations and brands, including more than 60 teams in MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and NCAA, plus ESPN, NBC Digital, AEG and Paciolan. Throughout North America and Europe, StubHub provides the total end-to-end event going experience that is the way ticket buying should be."
Opinion/Notes: I enjoy a good, maturing evolution and this is a good example that maintains the essence of the original while improving on its execution and usability. The exclamation-point tickets were a cute idea and established what the company was about but now that StubHub is more well-known and a service many people rely on it doesn't need to be so descriptive. The speech bubble remains as the core logo element and I'm guessing it's meant to represent the equivalent of a scalper yelling out "tickets, I have tickets". The shape of the bubble is much better and getting rid of the stroke always helps. The typography is quite nice too, with a much nicer condensed build that has a good rhythm to it.
Select Quote: "This logo update reflects StubHub's evolution away from a purely transactional ticketing company," said StubHub Head of Brand and Creative Bridget Burton. "We're not just about selling tickets anymore. As we refresh the logo, we're also renewing our focus on fans, helping them celebrate their passions and encouraging them to discover and experience more live events."
Rooted in San Francisco, and founded by fans for fans, StubHub's new look is a matured version of the existing logo, with the well-known speech bubble and ticket-mark-exclamation. All elements have been very subtly refreshed with a custom typeface and an official exclamation mark, which is a departure from the anachronistic ticket stub, intimating the company's broader business, beyond ticketing.
LinkThe Guardian's architecture and design critic, Oliver Wainwright, writes about the implications of the collaboration between Pantone and the Minions movie in developing the official Minion Yellow PMS, as well as the perils (for others) of brands owning colors.
'its best case scenario looks very much like a more perfect Nexus 5: ticking more of the truly desirable boxes, and at a lower price, than anyone else'
still too big
A big battery and a small price mark out the middle child of Motorola's 2015 lineup
Moto X 2013: great phone, bad camera. Moto X 2014: great phone, bad camera. What was it that George W. Bush said about not being fooled a third time? After two years of fatally flawed Moto X phones, Motorola has a new X series to sell us in 2015, but this time it’s paying due attention to the camera. The Moto X Play and its premium-tier sibling, the Moto X Style, both have a 21-megapixel camera that Motorola guarantees will make its phones “best in class.” If — and that’s a huge “if” — Motorola can rectify its biggest weakness while retaining the things that make its hardware attractive, it would indeed deserve to be part of that conversation.
The Moto X Play appears to have all the things that a modern smartphone requires and none of the superfluous extras. The Android software on board is barely distinguishable from Google’s stock version. Its processor, memory, and display specs are all a step down from the X Style, but the X Play actually has a larger battery and promises to last for two days on a single charge. And then there’s the price, which at £250 (roughly $385) in the UK is exactly half the cost of a new Galaxy S6. Even if you use the Moto Maker customization service and bump your expenditure up to £279, you’ll still be paying roughly half the price of an iPhone 6 or an HTC One M9.
One of my all-time favorite smartphones, Google’s 2013 Nexus 5, was priced at almost the same level as the Moto X Play. That was groundbreaking at the time, but it came with two major tradeoffs, as the Nexus 5 was hampered by a mediocre camera and underwhelming battery life. Motorola’s new smartphone has been designed to address exactly those concerns, and its best case scenario looks very much like a more perfect Nexus 5: ticking more of the truly desirable boxes, and at a lower price, than anyone else.
Take note: Motorola has opted not to sell the Moto X Play in the United States, but recent leaks indicate that the phone will make its way to the US under Verizon’s Droid Maxx branding, with an unsubsidized price of roughly $300.
The first thing I noticed upon extracting the Moto X Play from its box was its heft. This 5.5-inch handset isn’t any heavier than similarly sized competitors like the OnePlus 2 or iPhone 6 Plus, but it’s more compact than both and thus packs its weight more densely. The big 3,630 mAh battery has a lot to do with that. Encased in a chunky, metallic (but not metal) frame, this is an unmistakably masculine device, and even the wavy texture on the back panel is more evocative of a wire fence than anything warm and cozy.
There’s a roughness to the patterned back which I like, and it certainly enhances grip of the phone, though I’d have liked to see that treatment extended to the sides of the X Play as well. The smooth sides can be a little too slick to handle with assurance, making it easier to drop the handset (that will be a familiar issue to iPhone and HTC One owners). If you do drop the Moto X Play, though, there will be little reason to worry. Everything about this device seems to have been built to withstand a beating, and it feels incredibly rigid and tough. Its camera lens is also recessed slightly, rather than protruding as it is on many recent phones. The only real physical annoyance about the X Play is its loose volume rocker, which rattles when I move the phone around and feels nowhere near as nice and tactile as the ridged power button.
Think of this as a smartphone with the extra battery case built in
The best way to think of the Moto X Play is that it’s essentially a smartphone with the external case built in. It’s less refined than thinner and lighter devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S6, but it already has the extra battery capacity and durability that would compel S6 owners to put a case around their device.
I happily accept the size and weight tradeoff with the Moto X Play, because I can’t imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t want to have the benefit of its jumbo 3,630 mAh battery. In over a week with this phone, I’ve only had to recharge it five times. Unplugging it at midnight, I go through a full day and most of the next — the 15 percent battery warning would pop up around 6PM on day two — before I have to worry about power. Motorola’s claim of 48 hours of battery life from the Moto X Play is, in my experience, accurate. It should be noted that my daily routine is pretty forgiving on the battery, as I typically keep Bluetooth off and don’t do much 3D gaming, but I did use it extensively during my testing period, and it held up for an impressively long time. Most phones these days do a great job of consuming negligible power when their screen is off, but only one with an oversized battery like the Moto X Play's can assure you of more than a day’s endurance no matter the workload.
Motorola’s other big claim, besides the battery, is that the new camera in the Moto X Play would be class-leading. At its price point, that’s probably true — as the X Play does indeed have the best camera I’ve seen in any Motorola phone to date. But there are a couple of important caveats mixed in with all the good imaging news.
Let’s start with the happy side of the coin. One of the earliest photos I took with the Moto X Play was of the webcam on my MacBook Air. The detail and resolution of that shot were so good that I actually spotted the tiny laser perforations through which the webcam indicator light shines. That’s insanely impressive, revealing detail that’s barely perceptible to the naked eye. The Moto X Play also exhibits very good dynamic range, especially when shooting in brightly lit environments. Most phone cameras force you to choose between exposing your subjects correctly at the expense of a sunny day’s sky, or retaining the wispy cloud formations but making your foreground look dark. I left the X Play’s HDR mode on the automatic setting and just trusted the phone to expose images correctly. I was not let down.
Impressive dynamic range and detail, but there are some issues as well
The process of taking photos with the Moto X Play is similarly satisfying. Motorola has refined its camera launch gesture to a double twist of the wrist, which works remarkably well. It’s reminiscent of the action of cocking a shotgun — a neat kinetic preamble to shooting things — and I actually prefer it over the standard camera shortcut on the lock screen. The camera app itself is similar to the stock Android one, and photos are taken exceedingly quickly. Trouble arises, though, when the X Play fails to focus properly, which I noticed happened quite often for me with closeup shots. The phone’s autofocus works before you’ve tapped the screen to capture an image, so Motorola is relying on it being accurate enough and simply captures what the camera sees at the moment of the tap. That can lead to frustration, but Moto has also added in the option to select your favored focus point, which comes with an exposure adjustment dial as well. It’s a simple but useful addition.
My elation with the X Play’s camera was dimmed, appropriately enough, when I started using it in darker conditions. The extraordinary detail and speed that characterize this phone’s camera under bright lights are both lacking when it gets into a more challenging environment. Focus takes longer and image grain becomes apparent. The iPhone 6 focuses more reliably and exposes low-light scenes better than the X Play, which has a tendency to underexpose. This situation is not really improved by Motorola’s night mode, which appears to crank up the ISO in order to capture more light while reducing the resolution to a 3.7-megapixel image. It makes for slightly brighter photos, but that’s all. The X Play’s two-tone flash is more helpful (and it’s recreated on the front by Moto illuminating the display so that it lights up your selfies), though it too has a downside, which is the introduction of the dreaded red-eye effect.
For a phone that costs half as much as a flagship, this is an excellent camera
If I sound like I’m flip-flopping about this camera, that’s because I kind of am. Everything good about the X Play’s imaging depends on having the right circumstances to shoot — that’s where this camera can flat out outperform others — but the very definition of mobile photography is that you don’t have the best circumstances. Most people use their phones to capture group shots in smoky bars or their children dashing about in the playground. I wouldn’t recommend the X Play for either, as Motorola’s default shutter speed is a little too slow to capture fast-moving subjects reliably.
This is where Motorola would step in and suggest the X Style’s camera for more demanding users. It comes with the same sensor, but also includes a better phase-detect autofocus system and a more powerful image signal processor that, among other things, allows for 4K video. I’m not dissatisfied with the X Play’s 1080p video; I think that’s perfectly adequate, and I like its overall camera performance, but those upgrades could tempt a few to step up into the higher price range. Ultimately, I think that’s the thing that must be kept in mind with the Moto X Play: sure, this phone’s camera has limitations, but it’s also extremely capable and close to unrivaled for its price.
Android looks great, but performance stutters
The other important pillar of the Moto X Play’s appeal is the near-stock Android software on board. It’s virtually untarnished by Motorola (though there’s no guarantee that your local carrier will be as restrained), with only the company’s signature additions like active display notifications, voice control, and the aforementioned camera twist layered on top. I am, unsurprisingly, a fan. What did surprise me, however, was the lack of smoothness I encountered on the Moto X Play: animations and transitions are not particularly smooth, and browsing and zooming through my photos included pauses to process the images before presenting them in their full fidelity.
I know the X Play’s Snapdragon 615 processor is capable of doing better than this, as evidenced by smartphones like Sony’s M4 Aqua that have already used the chip successfully. As weird as it is to say, given Moto’s history of close collaboration with Google and Qualcomm, it seems like Motorola hasn’t yet fully optimized its software with the X Play. The phone also exhibited a weird bug where receiving a messaging notification prompted a paused YouTube video to resume playback (in the background! YouTube isn’t even supposed to be able to do that without a Music Key subscription). The positive way to look at this is that smoother and faster operation is well within Moto’s reach with this handset, provided the company keeps working on it and updates the software regularly.
Don't expect premium extras and you won't be disappointed
I haven’t talked about the Moto X Play’s display so far because, honestly, it’s one of the most unremarkable screens I’ve come across. It’s got good viewing angles, it’s reasonably readable outdoors, and its 1080p resolution feels quite sufficient for its 5.5-inch size. But we’ve basically reached the point where every new smartphone has a good display, and so the Moto X Play’s strengths don’t stand out — they are to be expected. The screen does look a little washed out at times, and it lacks the perfect pitch blacks of previous X models with AMOLED technology (which complemented Moto’s ambient notifications nicely), but it still gets the job done. The same is true of the speakers, which are just okay.
So who, if anyone, should buy the Moto X Play? Battery life enthusiasts, first and foremost. Motorola has focused on marketing its new camera and the fun of customizing your own X Play via Moto Maker, but the thing that really makes this handset stand out is its big battery. Two days of real-world use on a single charge are valuable to anyone and everyone. Plus that massively upgraded camera helps to distinguish the X Play from Motorola’s own Moto G, which could otherwise tempt the more frugal buyer away.
As things stand today, Motorola is setting up to have a very good, clearly delineated 2015 lineup: all of its smartphones aim to be cheaper (and better) than their most direct competition, but each has something a little bit unique to justify its price tier and existence. That makes buying advice pretty easy: if you like Motorola’s approach of rugged design and pristine Android software, just grab the Moto model that best fits your budget. You’re unlikely to be disappointed.
The Breakdown
More times than not, the Verge score is based on the average of the subscores below. However, since this is a non-weighted average, we reserve the right to tweak the overall score if we feel it doesn't reflect our overall assessment and price of the product. Read more about how we test and rate products.
'Today, there’s more pressure to gain an edge in the brutal college admissions process and job market through do enrichment activities: volunteering, summer school, and unpaid internships, which don’t count as official employment. The BLS observed a steady increase of young people staying in school during the summer and speculates internships and volunteering may be occupying teens now instead of summer jobs.
While many young people aren’t looking for a summer job as a waiter or fry cook, it’s no longer available to those who are. According to Census data in 1992 the median age of a food service workers was 26 and only 21.5% were older than 40, last year the median age was 28 and about 27% were over 40.
This shift may have a long term impact on work. Every generation entering the work force is accused of lacking work ethic or respect for senior employees. But the soft-skills many millenials supposedly don’t have may be absent because their first job out of college is their first job ever. They missed out on the humbling experience of grunt work earlier generations had in college and high school.'
In my late teens, I developed skills that has served me invaluably as an employee and an economist.
I had complete confidence that I could move just about anywhere, find a job, a place to live, support myself, and save money for college. One summer, I lived in an Alaskan fishing village where I worked a variety of odd jobs: I washed dishes, drove a bar shuttle van, made cappuccino (with no running water), and sold incense—and quickly became part of the local community. A friend who still lives near there says it’s different now. If students come to the village they are segregating from the community, do university sponsored programs, and don’t work.
Much of my confidence stemmed from the fact I worked every summer during high school. Those summer jobs not only made me feel like I had the ability to support myself and be independent but also laid the foundations for how I behave in any job. I had to be accountable, complete unpleasant tasks, listen to my boss, and connect with coworkers who spanned a wide range of skills and backgrounds.
In the US, kids today don’t work summer jobs in high school or college—not unless they have to. According to Census data from the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, around 55% of 16-to 19- year-olds were employed each July; in 2014 fewer than 35% were. Even college-aged Americans are much less likely to work. To be sure, the recession contributed to young peoples’ non-employment. But the trends pre-date the recession and, despite some increase, persist into the recovery.
Today, there’s more pressure to gain an edge in the brutal college admissions process and job market through do enrichment activities: volunteering, summer school, and unpaid internships, which don’t count as official employment. The BLS observed a steady increase of young people staying in school during the summer and speculates internships and volunteering may be occupying teens now instead of summer jobs.
While many young people aren’t looking for a summer job as a waiter or fry cook, it’s no longer available to those who are. According to Census data in 1992 the median age of a food service workers was 26 and only 21.5% were older than 40, last year the median age was 28 and about 27% were over 40.
This shift may have a long term impact on work. Every generation entering the work force is accused of lacking work ethic or respect for senior employees. But the soft-skills many millenials supposedly don’t have may be absent because their first job out of college is their first job ever. They missed out on the humbling experience of grunt work earlier generations had in college and high school.
Fewer teenagers working could result in a more stratified society where educated people never work low skills jobs or interact with different types of workers as peers, let alone as their boss. For all the pressure parents and students feel to do enrichment activities to enhance their skills, working a summer job may impart something more valuable. Economists like Larry Katz and David Deming argue the winners in the digital economy, who can never be outsourced, will be people who can combine good social and technological skills. Good social skills aren’t just about getting along with your boss or peers, it is communicating and connecting with people of all skills levels and backgrounds.
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This is Tahlie (pronounced "Tally") and unfortunately she is missing in St. John's. She disappeared from my friend's house on August 29th. If you see her, please call (512) 576-5140.
She has brindle fur with a white chest and a hot pink collar. She has a tag and has been microchipped. She was spotted yesterday at Macrum and Seneca and another time today at Yale and Macrum but both times we were unable to find her.
As always, we’ve got your monthly guide to what new wonders Netflix is bringing to the table and what movies and TV shows are going quietly into that good night. Some of these titles, they’re losing due to the decision to let their deal with Epix expire, and the rest are just normal losses, but the good outweighs the bad this month, at least in terms of sheer volume.
Sept. 1
The IT Crowd
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest
Inkmaster
Mortal Kombat
Sleepless in Seattle
Sept. 3
Dinosaurs
Sept. 15
Coach
Sept. 30
Apocalypse Now
Hercules
The Expendables 3
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Wolf of Wall Street
Transformers: Age of Extinction
World War Z
But the list of additions is so much longer that maybe—just maybe—we’ll get over the loss of Dinosaurs:
Sept. 1
72 Dangerous Animals: Australia: Season One
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl (2005)
Arthur: Season Seventeen
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (2014)
Battle Creek: Season One
Blackbird (2014)
Capital C (2014)
Combustion (2013)
Da Jammies: Season One
Divorce Corp. (2014)
First Blood (1982)
Giggle and Hoot’s Best Ever! (2014)
Hamlet (1990)
Hardball (2001)
Heather McDonald: I Don’t Mean to Brag (2014)
Lawrence of Arabia: Restored Version (1962)
The League: Season Six
Los Hombres También Lloran: Season One
Masters of the Universe (1987)
Mississippi Damned (2009)
Mister Roger’s Neighborhood: Volume One
Mouk: Season One
Our Man in Tehran (2013)
The Monster Squad (1987)
Pandas: The Journey Home (2014)
Person of Interest: Seasons One-Three
Puffin Rock: Season One *Netflix Original
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Rambo III: Ultimate Edition (1988)
Shake the Dust (2014)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Such Good People (2014)
Up in the Air (2009)
Zathura (2005)
Zoo Clues: Season One
Sept. 2
Black or White (2014)
Miss Julie (2014)
Sept. 3
Drumline: A New Beat (2014)
Sept. 4
Baby Daddy: Season Four (New Episodes)
Bad Night (2015) *Netflix Exclusive
Madame Secretary: Season One
Melissa and Joey: Season Four (New Episodes)
Sept. 7
Space Dandy: Season Two
Sept. 8
6 Years (2015)
Love at First Fight (2014)
Sept. 9
Teen Beach Movie 2 (2015)
Sept. 10
Fugitivos: Season One
Longmire: Season Four *Netflix Original
Sept. 11
About Elly (2009)
God Bless the Children (2015)
Madame Bovary (2014)
Sept. 12
It Happened Here (2015)
Portlandia: Season Five
The Roughnecks (2014)
Why Did I Get Married? (2007)
Sept. 13
Comedy Bang! Bang!: Season Four Part II
Pixies (2014)
Sept. 14
Call the Midwife: Series Four
Sept. 15
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)
The Bank Job (2008)
Closer to the Moon (2015)
Kambu: Season One
The Road Within (2015)
Rubble Kings (2015)
Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso: Season One
Zoobabu: Season One
Sept. 16
The Blacklist: Season Two
The Fosters: Season Three
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Reservation Road (2007)
Sept. 17
The Mysteries of Laura: Season One
Sept. 18
Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015) *Netflix Original
Sept. 21
The Following: Season Three
Gotham: Season One
Sept. 22
SMOSH: The Movie (2015)
Person of Interest: Season Four
Philomena (2013)
Sept. 23
Th Loft (2015)
Sept. 24
Iris (2014)
Sept. 25
Blue Bloods: Season Five
Hawaii Five-0: Season Five
Parenthood: Season Six
VeggieTales In the House: Season One (New Episodes) *Netflix Original
Sept. 26
The Canyons (2013)
Sept. 27
The Walking Dead: Season Five
Sept. 29
Bones: Season Ten
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Monster High: Boo York (2015)
R.L. Stines Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls (2015)
Sept. 30
Agatha Christies Poirot: Series Twelve
Leafie: A Hen Into the Wild (2011)
Midnight’s Children (2012)
Murdoch Mysteries: Seasons Four-Seven
Ned Rifle (2014)
Workshopping was the only thing in college that improved my writing or introduced developmental editing. I was a j-school major; none of the writing or editing classes involved workshopping because professional journalists don't do those things, which is stupid both as a justification and as an omission by journalists.
When tuition-paying parents ask themselves what courses at the small liberal arts college where I teach will best prepare their child for the real world, they probably think about classes in math, chemistry, economics and computer science—majors that could land their children jobs at Google, a spot in medical school, or a seat at a venture-capital firm.
But I have a different answer: Fiction Workshop.
I don’t say this as a joke—and I’m not implying that a talent for literary fabrication in any way prepares students for a career in banking, law, or politics. Of course not.
In creative writing workshops, students write stories, share them with their peers and then meet to discuss how issues like point of view, narrative structure, characterization, tone, setting and voice contribute to the power—or lack of power—in their stories.
In a workshop, students not only learn how to give criticism, they learn to take it. The aim is to generate feedback for the writer to sift through during the process of revision—to practice that necessary movement from flash of inspiration to finished product. In a workshop, students not only learn how to give criticism, they learn to take it. This means learning that the best feedback may come from an unlikely source, as well as learning how to recognize which comments will be most helpful even if they send you back to square one.
Before I began teaching, I worked in marketing, digital media and communications. I saw more than one dot-com boom go bust. And at every one of these jobs, I had to consider new ideas from my colleagues—business plans, market analyses, product prototypes, website redesigns—and provide cogent, meaningful feedback. Back then, I counted on a few simple rules that I learned in my own undergraduate creative writing workshops:
“I like it” and “I don’t like it” are equally worthless. When someone asks you to read a story that they’ve poured their heart and soul into, saying you like it or don’t like it tells them nothing. They need specifics. Not as a way to pad or punish their ego, but in order to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not. They also need to understand your criteria for judgment: are you driven purely by taste? Whim? Or have you read this story with great care and attention to detail? Your opinion goes farther when it is backed up by evidence, and when you can eloquently articulate that evidence.
No playing favorites. No story in a workshop gets a free pass simply because the writer is a senior and you a lowly sophomore. And no story gets shot down simply because the writer’s last story was a tragically ill-conceived mash-up of gothic horror and My Little Pony fan fiction. In the workshop, everyone evaluates the story on its own merits. The discussion should focus on a few simple questions: what is this story capable of being and how will my comments help the writer on the next draft?
No meanies. Students do not eviscerate each other’s stories for sport, nor do they bestow baskets full of rainbows and sunshine on each other. A good workshop teaches you to put your own issues aside and deliver your opinion—especially your highly critical opinion—with some degree of diplomacy. If you truly hate someone’s story, you can say so: but you must help them to understand why their narrative produced such a bitter reaction in you, and you must do this without resorting to personal attacks.
And no hard feelings. On the flip side, sometimes you’re the one whose story gets a rough reception in workshop. You expected tears of sympathy; instead you got peals of laughter, or even worse, a shrug. What do you do? You take pride in the fact that you put your work out there, you don’t take it personally, and you vow to do better next time. Because in both cases—whether you’re the writer or the critic—you’re still going to have to see each other in the dining hall or in the dorm.
The wacky draft of a story that your friend wrote is a work in progress. The crazy idea for an app that your co-worker just sprung on you is also a work in progress. A writing workshop, more than any other class, can prepare you for life in fast-moving startups where every employee is expected to think creatively, ask questions and sort out the truly useful feedback from the half-baked opinions.
The reviewer's criticism of the game (Black Tokyo) is that it doesn't sufficiently explore PC-on-NPC rape, and that there aren't any detailed game mechanics for what happens when a character decides to rape someone.
Do we really want RPG.net to be a mouthpiece for those sort of views? I strongly suspect that the mods would take a very dim view of anyone who started a thread on the forums asking for game mechanics for rape, and it's difficult to see why it should be tolerated in the reviews section either.
If you run a Google search on "Black Tokyo RPG" that review the first thing that comes up. I Googled it to understand the context for what's going on over at DriveThruRPG at the moment, and suspect that plenty of other people will be doing the same.
I think the review's a terrible advert for RPG.net and what we're about as a community.
To be among the first people on the planet to play the world's largest arcade game, head to Maker Faire Orlando on September 12 and 13.
