Mario on your smartphone won't be what you think
Nintendo finally gave in.
On Monday Nintendo announced a tie-up with Japanese mobile gaming firm DeNA that will place Nintendo characters in all-new games for smartphones.
That distinction is key: Nintendo is not bringing its older, existing games to mobile devices. It is creating all-new games specifically for those devices.
It means you still won't be able to play the original Super Mario Bros. on your smartphone.
You know what? That's a good thing. FULL POST
Is it Pebble's Time to shine?
It's hard to talk about the Pebble Time without mentioning the Apple Watch.
Pebble, the pioneers of the smartwatch, unveiled their latest product just before the world's most valuable company is about to enter the market.
But I feel like there's room for both products. FULL POST
Earth Primer's fun lessons
Steve Jobs wanted the iPad to herald a revolution in textbooks.
In his biography of the late Apple co-founder, author Walter Isaacson said Jobs saw textbooks as another market ripe for disruption by releasing digital versions on the iPad.
Digital textbooks usually include dynamic elements, like pictures or video clips. Chaim Gingold has taken that to the next level with "Earth Primer", an app that teaches you about our planet by letting you play with an interactive model of it.
"Earth Primer" allows you to summon rainclouds to send streams of water cutting through mountains to demonstrate how erosion works instead of just telling you. You can also raise the sea level, create glaciers, even move continental plates around - all to explain the inner workings of the Earth.
Watch Gingold tell Kristie why he created the app in the clip above.
Getting the rest of the world online
For millions of people in developing countries, smartphones represent their chance to experience the Internet for the first time.
But one entrepreneur says the swipes and taps we take for granted on a touchscreen device aren't intuitive for users with no experience.
Watch the video above to see Hassan Baig explain how he's trying to help people use the Internet on mobile devices for the first time.
Game Faces: Cosmo Wright
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of my favorite games ever. I feel like I should know everything about the game, since I've finished the roughly 20-hour main storyline several times over the last 16 years.
I realized how little I knew when I saw Cosmo Wright finish the game in under 20 minutes.
FULL POST
20 years of PlayStation
I remember the first Sony PlayStation.
I remember thinking that "PlayStation" was a very silly name.
I remember wondering how Sony could possibly compete with Nintendo and Sega.
I remember looking at the oddly-shaped controller, with weird contoured grips that surprisingly felt good in your hand.
I remember playing Ridge Racer for the first time.
Act like a spy to protect your digital privacy
In today’s social media driven world, people’s entire lives are often stored on their smartphones. Email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, your photo roll, calendar and notes all provide clues to your location, contacts and personal details. It’s a veritable buffet for identity thieves.
Wickr CEO Nico Sell says, “I’ve been lucky enough to be educated by the very best hackers in the world.”
That’s how she learned how easy it is for people to tap into your mobile phone, eavesdrop on your calls and read your text messages.
Concerned about her own digital footprint and the security of her children, Sell created Wickr – a peer-to-peer encryption app. FULL POST
I think I'm too old for Call of Duty
I am 33 years old. But I think I am too old to play the latest Call of Duty game.
To be clear, this isn't to say I'm too old for video games in general. I love them! I play games all the time, whether it's Grand Theft Auto V or Pokemon X/Y.
Nor am I saying I'm too old for Call of Duty's brand of action, where the U.S. is constantly getting invaded, a double-cross is only ever minutes away, and everything explodes. That's all fine by me.
I feel too old to play Call of Duty because I don't think I have the reflexes to compete online in multiplayer anymore. FULL POST
Watch Mark Zuckerberg speak Chinese
In case you missed it, here's Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking Mandarin Chinese at Beijing's Tsinghua University.
Zuckerberg surprised the audience by speaking and answering questions in Mandarin for almost 30-minutes.
His heavy accent caused a few moments of misunderstanding - like when he tried to say the word "billion" but it came out as "eleven."
But no matter. It was an inspiring effort!
Life a little less 2D
Forget what you know about conventional printing – and start thinking three-dimensionally.
3D printing – once considered niche – is now becoming more mainstream. UPS, for example, just expanded its 3D printing services to locations across the United States to keep up with demand.
But Bre Pettis and the folks at Stratasys are working to bring 3D printing to your home.
Pettis is the co-founder of Makerbot, the company that pioneered 3D printers for consumers. Now at Makerbot’s parent company, he’s part of an innovation workshop called Bold Machines.
“We’re exploring the frontier of what’s possible,” Pettis says. “Imagine Iron Man’s workshop. We’ve got all the 3D printers in the Stratasys lineup – from Makerbots to wax printers – that make wax 3D models that you can then take into a foundry and make beautiful customized jewelry.”
So how does it work? FULL POST
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