SPARKLE BOSS

bug fixes & performance enhancements

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Amazing set of shots of Tokyo at night by Masashi Wakui

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Inside Zedd's 3D Virtual Worlds

10 minute mini-documentary on how the visuals were put together for Zedd's True Colors tour. Beeple is the visual artist that makes the scenes, it's well worth checking out his site if you want to see more.

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Landscapes of Tuscany, by Mario Maione

Found in the heart of Italy, things here have changed little since the 10th century BC, when the region was inhabited by the Etruscans, and whose descendants are found in almost all of the villages in this region.

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Neon Sunsets and Technicolor Landscapes Painted by Grant Haffner

For more of Grant's work, check out his website

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This is the very scarce original 2-sheet poster for the Thai release of arguably the best war film ever made, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

They don't make 'em like they used to.

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Trick Shot by Jonathan Topf is a great new iOS game, in the proud tradition of "throw this thing into that thing, and maybe bounce it off a thing in between" games.

It's also awesome that it has a Unity Personal Edition splash on launch.

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The Making of Alto's Adventure

I worked as the sole artist and developer and was responsible for all the game’s programming, visual design, animation, 2D and 3D assets, UI / UX as well as the website and trailers. The game was built in Unity and was my first experience working as a game developer.

Alto's Adventure is one of my favorite games this year. Endless snowboarding games have been done before, but never with this much style and elegance. Beautiful work.

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Year after year the IGF sifts through thousands and thousands of entries to determine the best indie games of the year. Given the explosion of awesome indie stuff in 2014, you should at least be playing the finalists for the Seamus McNally grand prize:

80 Days (Inkle Studios)

Invisible Inc. (Klei Entertainment)

Outer Wilds (Team Outer Wilds)

The Talos Principle (Croteam)

Metamorphabet (Patrick Smith)

This War of Mine (11 Bit Studios)

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Whittier, Alaska, is a town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in a 14-story former Army barracks built in 1956. The building, called Begich Towers, holds a police station, a health clinic, a church, and a laundromat. Its hallways resemble those of a school or a detention center. One can often find residents shuffling around in slippers and pajamas. The only way to get to Whittier by land is to drive through a two-and-a-half-mile, one-lane railroad tunnel that shuts down at night.

If you've ever read Wool by Hugh Howey, or played Fallout, this sounds eerily similar. What a fascinating way of life.

Warning: Paywall if you read more than 3 articles/month

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Joseph Mirabello documented not just how much time he spent building Tower of Guns (3850 hours) but when he spent that time, and on what disciplines.

Be prepared for lower efficiency if you wear many hats.

Focus on combating demotivation with every trick you can

Temember to track "time-in-chair" next time as well.

Be prepared to spend a quarter of your time on marketing related tasks.

Absolutely required reading for anybody thinking of going the indie software route.

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The new Sony Walkman

I'm pretty excited for this new Sony Walkman. I've longed for a wifi-enabled iPod Nano for a while, and it looks like this thing fits the bill. The version of Android is old, but whatever, it just needs a podcast app.

the ZX2 will launch in the Spring for over $1,119.99.

WHAT

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Ultimate Ears Megaboom announced

CES is usually chock full of goofy product announcements like smart forks, but this year Ultimate Ears announced the Megaboom. If you're following along, I called the Mini Boom and it's big brother the Boom my favorite Bluetooth speakers a couple of days ago, and there's no reason to believe the Megaboom won't continue that trend.

CES redeemed? Probably not. But cool nonetheless.

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Stuff I love: Anker hi-speed chargers

Most people don't know it, but the chargers Apple ships with the iPhone 6 & 6+ are inadequate. The new iPhones will charge around twice as fast when given more juice. One way to do that is to use an iPad charger, but a cheaper and more versatile way is to buy some awesome multi-port chargers from Anker.

We have a couple of the 36W 4 port chargers placed strategically around the house to charge all our various gadgets.

Perhaps even more important for speed, I also have the 24W dual port car chargers in my car. That way I can actually get a decent amount of charge out of a 15-30 minute drive.

Are there even cheaper charging options? Sure, but these come with a brand name, a warranty, and real customer support, so they're not going to blow up your $600 phone.

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Stuff I love: Ultimate Ears Mini Boom

I've had a number of Bluetooth speakers over the years, but the one that I keep coming back to (and that I gave as a gift to a few people this year) is the Ultimate Ears Mini Boom. It sounds way better than it should given it's small size, and it's rubber exterior makes it really durable.

If you want a step up in sound quality, the larger Ultimate Ears Boom is also great.

Note: This is the first of a series of posts where I'm going to talk about stuff I love. Because loving stuff is cooler than hating stuff.

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The Wire in HD

At the last, I’m satisfied what while this new version of The Wire is not, in some specific ways, the film we first made, it has sufficient merit to exist as an alternate version. There are scenes that clearly improve in HD and in the widescreen format. But, there are things that are not improved. And even with our best resizing, touchups and maneuver , there are some things that are simply not as good. That’s the inevitability here: This new version, is, after all, is one that is presented in an aspect ratio that simply wasn’t intended or serviced by the filmmakers.

I can't wait. The Wire is my favorite show of all time, and I'll happily take more frame & resolution. I'm thrilled that David Simon got as involved as he did.

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True craftsmanship.

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Full video from Jony Ive’s onstage interview w/ Vanity Fair.