How game developers use MAME, despite publishers believing it is the root of all evil:

When we looked closer into this we discovered that the “port” team had actually written an emulator for that console (based on MAME btw) and simply used it to run a hacked version of the original ROM image which they’d downloaded from a warez site.

Why Shakespeare helps.

The New York Times Chrome “app” is very nice - simple and readable. The design is so similar to a touch interface that the first thing I tried to do was flip the pages with a mouse gesture. Failed, unfortunately - would have been a nice surprise if it worked.

It only works in Chrome, which is kind of weird.

Everything you wanted to know about South American Death Metal Grindcore but were too terrified to ask - and hear.

I like the idea of the eBook, but it seems like the industry is making the same mistakes the music business did - heavily DRM’d, non transferable, single device files. iBooks doesn’t allow you to read a book on your Mac that you bought on your iPhone. Google Books don’t work on Kindles or iBooks. You need to create an ‘Adobe identity' before you can read the book you bought. Etc.

It’s like they want you to keep buying the dead tree option - and maybe they do, for the time being at least.

If I was FIFA I’d pick Qatar too based on these images (despite several looking like the Eye of Sauron). Pity none of them exist yet, and interesting that the environmental spin has started already: “eco friendly soccer utopia” indeed.

2010 highlights from the world of Boardgaming.

Real singing.

Time to up your broadband cap, iPadders. A perfect mapping of content to technology I’m guessing.

Toy cars. Eyes wide with childlike wonder.