Hasta La Gadget!

From LAN parties to MLG, the history of competitive gaming has been a fascinating one. Following up on similarly themed episodes, like the one back in October that explored the indie gaming community, PBS’s Off Book is tackling the world of competition, cramming as much info as it can into a seven and a half minute piece, including the move from entertainment into an industry, including the growing pains associated with its push into the pop-culture. It’s an interesting look, with plenty of input from MIT sociologist T.L. Taylor. And it offers up a good glimpse for those of us who don’t possess the chops to get handed one of of those giant novelty checks in front of a room full of excited spectators. Live vicariously through the video after the break.

Filed under: Gaming

Comments

At just over 7 billion in number, human beings are kind of a big deal. Despite our greatness in numbers, however, there are quite a few other species sharing our little blue dot. Sadly, the one greatest in number isn’t something you see every day or … well, ever, for that matter. And say what you will about obesity in our society, but PBS’ “Life By the Numbers” Digital Short (part of its new “It’s Okay to be Smart” series) argues that human biomass (287 million tons) is nowhere near that of even a single species of krill (500 million tons). Take that, Richard Simmons!

See the full video, just below; if it does end up guilting you into weight loss with all that biomass talk, might we direct you towards the Hapifork?

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Word comes by way of The Wrap that PBS is slated to air the very first TED Talk produced for TV on April 16th, and it’ll feature Bill Gates, to boot. The special sets its sights on discussing education and will include the likes of educators Geoffrey Canada and Sir Ken Robinson alongside Microsoft’s co-founder. In advance of the broadcast, the program will be taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater on April 4th. There’s no word on whether tickets are up for grabs to attend the event, but we’d start searching for friends who know Gates if you’d prefer the live experience.

[Image credit: World Economic Forum, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: The Wrap

PBS already showcased indie game creation and buggy software, so this week’s digital short on coding as an art form isn’t exactly what we’d call a big surprise. It is, however, delightful (also not a big surprise); NYU’s Daniel Shiffman, Barbarian Group’s Keith Butters, and RGBDToolkit’s James George / Jonathan Minard do a great job of representing the medium. The latter folks even employ Microsoft’s Kinect with their coding to magnificent effect. See for yourself just below the break.

Continue reading PBS’ latest digital short explores the world of coding as art

Filed under: Software, Alt

Comments

Source: YouTube

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but that’s not true; you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. You can, and chances are you do it all the time, so better make sure that cover is good, right? More »