Matt Howell

Matt Howell serves as the Vice President of Analytics & Digital Publishing Technology at Warner Bros. Games, where he oversees digital marketing infrastructure, integrates Machine Learning processes and develops live service standards to support the needs of entertainment products throughout their lifecycle. With over 20 years of experience managing B2B Marketing Technology portfolios, Matt has supported the development and publishing of over 60 games – drawing over a billion cumulative active players globally, spanning across beloved IP such as DC Comics, Star Wars, LEGO, Wizarding World and more. These include the popular mobile strategy title, Game of Thrones: Conquest – as well as one of 2023’s biggest hits, Hogwarts Legacy.

[theeconomist]

A drone is used to deliver a life preserver to members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry during a training exercise in the suburbs of Moscow, on January 13th 2016, in preparation for Russian Orthodox Epiphany celebrations. Orthodox believers mark Epiphany on January 19th by immersing themselves in icy waters and some may get into difficulties. Credit: Reuters/Maxim Zmeyev

[discoverynews]

Why Doesn’t Earth Have Rings?

Early this week, scientists discovered a super Saturn, which got us thinking: Why doesn’t Earth have rings?

[theverge]

SONY PUT THE GUTS OF A SMARTPHONE INTO THIS LIGHTBULB AND THEN MADE A TERRIFYING PROMOTIONAL VIDEO.

It’s just too bad they didn’t come up with a more dramatic name than Multifunctional Light.

[wnyc]

Full list on the Brian Lehrer Show blog.

It can track the numbers of both parties on a phone call, as well location, time and duration. (More)

It can hack Chinese phones and text messages. (More)

It can set up fake internet cafes. (More)

It can spy on foreign...

[batbcomic]

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton “Fear isn’t so difficult to understand. After all, weren’t we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It’s just a different wolf.” ― Alfred Hitchcock “Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life.” ― Friedrich von Schiller

I think what a lot of people fail to realize is that fairy tales are about emotional truths. No one reads a fairy tale and thinks that they may literally have to slay an ogre, or steal the golden goose, or wear out seven pairs of iron shoes and dress in a thousand furs to find the prince, but some people criticize them, saying this is unrealistic, this is all there is to the tale. Put a little thought into it. In your life, you may not have to climb mountains to find the home of the north wind, but you might have to ask someone intimidating for help. You may never have to trick the wicked prince into looking into the glass-filled barrel, or the witch into peering into the oven, but you might have to sacrifice someone else’s comfort for your own wellbeing. Your mother might not be wicked, but sometimes you’ll be angry with her. You might not be turned into a Beast, but sometimes it feels like there’s nothing about you worth loving. Fairy tales remind you of that. They remind you that there are troubles and trials, and that this is normal. It is the way of things, and you’ll come through it. (via agreyeyedgirl)

That Chesterton quote doe. 

(via ozyreads)

I love this. I’m not even capable of expressing how much.

(via alwaysanoriginal)

[beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood]

Pan-Seared Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries and Pecans…RECIPE

[analyticisms]

#SaturdaySadStat: this makes it very clear that if you are not a mega or mainstream artist, you have no chance of growing a strong social media presence.  And 91% of artists are classified as “undiscovered”.  Ouch!

[courtenaybird]

Though 90% of U.S. households pay to receive as many as 180 channels, the average number of channels viewers watch has remained static at 18 for the past few years. Based on 2012 viewing levels, allowing consumers to choose their own channel packages would end up killing 124 networks.

What Breaking Apart The TV Bundle Would Cost You (via courtenaybird)

[journo-geekery]

The Changing American Family - NYT

I missed linking to this while I was on vacation for American Thanksgiving.  This special Science Times piece by Natalie Angier is a mix of wonderful American family portraits interspersed with the latest (remarkable) statistics about the experiences we refer to as families.  I’ve extracted a few of the graphs here.

Well worth your time.

[courtenaybird]

At least 7,776 languages are in use in the greater offline world … Less than five percent of languages in use now exist online.

How the Internet is killing the world’s languages (via courtenaybird)

[fungi-culture]

Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts with Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms (x)

[beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood]

Crispy Sweet Potato Roast with Herbed Coconut Crème Fraîche…RECIPE

[seerofdoom]

Dear Xbox and Playstation fans. It is cute when you fight, but before you think about trying to drag Nintendo into your pissing contest please take a moment to remember why Nintendo doesn’t even acknowledge you as their competition, much less their rivals.

[okayla]

 #whats a god to a nonbeliever

[beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood]

Raw Color Wheel Wraps…RECIPE

Green Wrapper

3 cups zucchini – cubed

meat of 1 fresh young Thai coconut

1/4 cup water of young Thai coconut

1/4 cup ground golden flax seeds

1 bunch cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Yellow Wrapper

flesh of 2 ripe mangos

2 1/2 medium carrots

meat of 1 fresh young Thai coconut

1/4 cup water of young Thai coconut

1/4 cup ground golden flax seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

Purple Wrapper

1 small papaya OR 1 large mango

1/2 small beet root

meat of 1 fresh young coconut

1/4 cup ground golden flax seeds

[wired]

The price of a bitcoin topped $900 last week, an enormous surge in value that arrived amidst Congressional hearings where top U.S. financial regulators took a surprisingly rosy view of digital currency. Just 10 months ago, a bitcoin sold for a measly $13.

The spike was big news across the globe, from Washington to Tokyo to China, and it left many asking themselves: “What the hell is a bitcoin?” It’s a good question — not only for those with little understanding of the modern financial system and how it intersects with modern technology, but also for those steeped in the new internet-driven economy that has so quickly remade our world over the last 20 years.

Bitcoin is a digital currency, meaning it’s money controlled and stored entirely by computers spread across the internet, and this money is finding its way to more and more people and businesses around the world. But it’s much more than that, and many people — including the sharpest of internet pioneers as well as seasoned economists — are still struggling to come to terms with its many identities.

With that in mind, we give you this: an idiot’s guide to bitcoin. And there’s no shame in reading. Nowadays, as bitcoin is just beginning to show what it’s capable of, we’re all neophytes.

[MORE: The Bitcoin Survival Guide - Everything You Need to Know About the Future of Money]

[theomeganerd]

Lindsay Lohan Goes After ‘GTA V’

Lindsay Lohan has called in her lawyers to take action against ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ … claiming video game honchos jacked her image without her permission… TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us, Lohan’s lawyers are currently crafting a lawsuit demanding Rockstar Games pay some serious money for using Lindsay’s image in the game.

So the question … did ‘GTAV’ really use Lindsay. Here’s the evidence:

• The video game cover shows a woman holding a cellphone who looks Lindsay-ish. There’s been debate over whether it looks more like Kate Upton or Shelby Welinder.

• Part of the game features a mission where a Lindsay Lohan look-alike asks the player to take her home and escape the paparazzi. 

• Another part of the game shows another Lindsay-like character at a hotel resembling the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood - a place Lindsay not only frequents but once lived at - and the mission is to photograph her having sex on camera.

No word on whether ‘GTA V’ execs will pay Lindsay or tell her lawyers to pound sand.

[fred-wilson]

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop 12% of sales people make more than three contacts 2% of sales are made on the first contact 3% of sales are made on the second contact 5% of sales are made on the third contact 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Shocking Sales Statistics as It Relates to Follow Up | Follow Up Success (via fred-wilson)