The Verge:
It takes 13 minutes and seven seconds to complete Snake, the decades-old game that enjoyed a renascence (sic) through Nokia’s early mobile phones. What reward lies at the end of this snake’s insatiable desire for food?Nothing.
Weirdly mesmerizing.
Chicago Tribune:
For the Bulls and Blackhawks to share the floor at the United Center, it takes a choreographed conversion from ice to hardwood and back again — something that will happen 26 times this season. Once a Blackhawks game ends, the crew of 45 springs to action, changing the playing surface in about two hours.
Fascinating video and description of the process of turning a hockey rink into a basketball arena.
Ebooks accounted for nearly one quarter of the total sales of U.S. trade books in 2012, reports the Association of American Publishers.
Verizon’s offering a $35 per month prepaid plan for users who don’t want a smartphone.
Atlanta wins Movoto’s poll as the nerdiest city in the U.S.
An analyst reports that sales of BlackBerry’s Z10 smartphone have actually been eclipsed by returns.
Vanity Fair:
When Felix Baumgartner set out to make a living by stunt jumping—from cliffs, buildings, and bridges—the young Austrian had no idea where it would take him: to a pressurized capsule nearly 24 miles above New Mexico, last October 14, preparing to free-fall farther than any man in history, and at supersonic speed. Detailing Baumgartner’s quest, William Langewiesche explores what drove him to ever greater heights.
I’m still not as hugely impressed as some by Baumgartner’s stunt but the story has many interesting details regarding what it takes to put together this kind of event.
How much fun would it be to be Ken Block for a day?
Microsoft plans a seven-inch tablet to complement its current line of Surface devices
Flavorwire:
This month marks the 70th anniversary of one of our favorite children’s books of all time, the beautiful, contemplative novella The Little Prince. To celebrate the book’s legacy (and to encourage any parents currently dragging their feet to get it for their little ones), we’ve put together a list of 25 essential books that every kid should have on his or her bookshelf growing up.
Embarrassed to say I’ve only actually read two of these – “The Phantom Tollbooth” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” How many have you read?
PCs saw the worst sales drop ever for the first calendar quarter of 2013, according to research firm IDC.
The Wirecutter:
It’s actually harder to pick a good, affordable camera than it is to pick an expensive, high-end one. But, with a bit of leg work, we’ve managed to plow through the fifteen or so vaguely respectable cameras that cost less than $150 and narrow it down to the Canon PowerShot 320 HS.The comparatively low image noise, sharp photographs, and kinda-fast lens put it ahead of most of the competition at this price point. And while the touchscreen and Wi-Fi may not be perfect, they’re still good features to have on hand.
Barnes & Noble has rebranded PubIt as Nook Press; the self-publishing platform for Nook now features web-based publishing tools.
Electronic Arts (EA) on Wednesday announced plans to release a Mac version of its new SimCity game on June 11. The company had previously indicated a Mac version was in the works, but this is the first time EA has … Continued
A new survey shows that very few Americans are aware that BlackBerry 10 is out in the world, suggesting the company’s doing a miserable job promoting it.
Tumblr has cut the staff that put together Storyboard, its editorially curated content.
Om Malik has gotten his hands on an HTC First, the first smartphone equipped with Facebook Home.
JC Penney ousted Ron Johnson after less than a year and a half. Why?
I missed this feature from Florence Ion when it ran earlier this month. If you did too, check it out. Some interesting tidbits.
An artist has outfitted Heineken bottles with frosted geometric patterns visible under black light.
Austin, Texas is the next city to get gigabit access through Google Fiber.
The Chinese media is turning up the heat on Microsoft for its Surface warranty.
BuzzFeed:
In Canada, this transcendent dish is served at every possible opportunity — restaurants, bars, truck stops, diners, doesn’t matter. In America it’s still treated like a culinary novelty. The few stateside restaurants that have attempted to make poutine can’t seem to get it right.This is downright tragic.
I’ve had poutine four times here in the US. Every time, it was utterly inedible. C’mon America!
Apple’s former head of retail, Ron Johnson, was unceremoniously dumped on Monday and replaced by his predecessor.
Intel has announced a faster version of Thunderbolt with twice the throughput of the current version.
If you need to do anything with PDFs, you need PDFpen. You can add a signature, make changes to text and images, correct a typo, fill out forms–and that’s only the beginning. Got a scanned document? PDFpen includes OCR so you can convert that scan into text that can be searched, copied, and corrected. Want to remove sensitive info such as tax ID numbers from your PDF before sharing it? PDFpen can perform redaction, removing the stuff you want to keep private.
The big news is that PDFpen 6 is now available, and the new features make it more powerful and easier to use than ever. The interface and tools have been updated and improved. And now you can export your PDFs to Microsoft Word format for sharing or editing. If you want to see the new features in action, check out the great video by David Sparks where you can see the new features.
Buy PDFpen for $60 in the Mac App Store or directly from Smile. Or buy PDFpenPro for $100 and you’ll get advanced features like form creation tools and document permission settings. Find out more at Smile Software.
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and one-time boss of Steve Jobs, says companies need to rethink their hiring practices to avoid losing creative candidates.
Matt Drance:
Do you enter uncharted territory, make your own mobile operating system, and hope people switch?
Of course not. You make your competitor’s system yours — overnight. Facebook Home is a trojan horse designed to steal the Android experience, and the Android user base, right out of Google’s hands.
It’s a brilliant move by Facebook, especially since Google is trying so hard to compete with Facebook. I chuckle every time I think about it.
Dan Frommer:
My guess is that many — most? — of these people are Facebook users, and could easily see some utility in having Facebook features highlighted on their phones. And — bonus — Facebook’s software looks good. Much better than the junk that ships with typical low-end Android devices.
I agree with Dan. Facebook has a lot of users that couldn’t care less about what phone they have. They check email and Facebook — that’s who they are going after with Facebook Home.
Thanks to Doxie for sponsoring The Loop this week. There’s never been a better time to go paperless. Doxie scans your paper – simply, automatically, and with no computer required. Just push the button and insert your sheet. Doxie scans anywhere in your home or office with a built-in rechargeable battery and memory.
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