Angry Robot

Breaking Madden: The Super Bowl, in which the machine bleeds to death

This is the funniest article about football video games I’ve ever read. It’s the only article about football video games I’ve read, but still. (Via)

Now we know Ottawa can snoop on any Canadian. What are we going to do?

I’m now going on the assumption that anything the NSA is doing in the US, CSEC is doing here, and vice versa.

  <blockquote>        <p>The <span class="caps">CSEC</span> presentation describes ubiquitous surveillance programs clearly directed at Canadians, involving data associated with Canadian airports, hotels, wi-fi cafes, enterprises and other domestic locations. [&#8230;] The presentation specifies that at least some of the bulk data from these locations was obtained through the cooperation of what’s only described as a “Canadian Special Source,” which is likely a Canadian telecommunications provider.</p>   </blockquote>

Dad gets OfficeMax mail addressed 'Daughter Killed in Car Crash'

This is insane.

Brother-in-law beaten in jail to keep quiet about Rob Ford’s drug use, lawsuit alleges

The Rob Ford saga needed a good jailhouse beating. Also, it’s nice to hear about Peter Payman again. Here’s the full document BTW (PDF)

How solar and EVs will kill the last of the industry dinosaurs

Predicts that by 2030 the plunging price of solar panels and EV batteries will make fossil fuels obsolete. “Utilities as we know them are over. They are the land line telephone companies of 20, 30 years ago.” Found this via Juan Cole checking out EVs at the Detroit Auto Show, where he notes that in 4 years Tesla will be selling an EV for $38,000.

Rob Ford video shows his versatility. Oscar, are you watching?

“Because Steak Queen appears to be an attempt at a blaxploitation film.”

ConferenceCall.biz

(via)

Everything from [a] 1991 Radio Shack ad I now do with my phone

Apple – Thirty Years of Mac

Special anniversary site with amazing design. My macs (my parents’ Macs at first): Mac Plus, IIx, Mac Portable, LC 475, PowerBooks Wallstreet, Lombard, Titanium, 12”, MacBook (black), MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, 2009 iMac 27”, MacBook Air. By Gar it’s been a while.

Apple iPhones to Come Out With Bigger Screens

Rumour, but from the WSJ.

Toronto Public Library goes digital with 3D printing, technology hubs

Great idea

The mysterious case of the double toilet

The Undeserving Rich

Krugman on rising US inequality

The World's 85 Richest People Are as Wealthy as the Poorest 3 Billion

Traffic fatalities on the rise in Toronto

“Last year, 63 people died in traffic accidents in Toronto. That’s more than the number of people who died by homicide.”

Netflix Instant Thinking About Adding Good Movie

In Canada, people talk about “American Netflix” in hushed tones of reverence for its expanded catalogue, some going so far as to sign up for VPN services or using dodgy third-party DNS servers. It amuses me to learn that Americans think their Netflix is as shitty as we think ours is.

Perhaps the Most Outrageous Celebrity on Japanese Television

Sundance: In a World Gone Digital, Indie Filmmakers Reach for 16 mm

Contrarians. “[I don’t want to be] part of the generation of a—holes that sent film up the river.”

10 ghostwritten hip-hop tracks – and the surprising ghostwriters behind them

OK, it’s a clickbait faux gallery thing, but there’s lots of dirt in here. Featuring Dre, The Wu, Jay-Z and even Kool G Rap writing for Salt N Pepa. (via)

Video games change the way you dream

Interesting studies by a Canadian psychologist. “So-called “hardcore” gamers were more likely than their peers to experience lucid dreams.”

A Republic of Bloggers

“During the Enlightenment at the end of the 17th century and the start of the 18th, a disparate group of intellectuals in Europe and the United States engaged in a long-distance discourse that became know as the Republic of Letters, or Respublica Literaria. It was one of the first transnational movements, and scholars have endlessly debated its relevance and influence upon the dramatically proclaimed Age of Enlightenment it heralded.”

Can former “pirates” fix a broken movie market?

How DVD pirates in Ecuador went legit and helped expand the national film culture

The flat-out truth on curved TVs

Spoiler alert: waste of money.

Hoplite Strategy Guide

I’ve been dangerously obsessed with the iOS/Android game Hoplite. It’s good, miss-your-streetcar-stop good (right Steve?). All the more impressive given how simple it is. Anyway I would like to channel the obsession into something useful. So here are some pointers for strategy.

General points

Upgrades

UPDATE: the latest version has changed this behaviour. Now you only get one free turn at a time. Perhaps those all caps weren’t necessary after all.