Katie Drummond, The Verge:

I love Phil Collins because his melodies are catchy as hell. I love him because his lyrics are often unintentionally hilarious and he just owns them anyways. I love him because that 3:40 drum crash on “In The Air Tonight” gets me every damn time.

Mock me all you want. After all, this isn’t a salute to the prowess of Deadmau5 or Pharrell or some other musical act you won’t be ruthlessly derided for appreciating. But guess what? Phil Collins makes catchy tunes, catchy tunes are fun to listen to, and you’re probably not as cool as you think you are anyways. So pour a glass of wine, close all the curtains, and get ready…to dance into the light.

The master of pop hooks; the harbinger of gated reverb; the purveyor of heartbreak and melancholy. Sounding a bit like a robot is pretty awesome too. One of my top 5 favorite artists, no shame.

Great picks, Katie. Now, back to that musical adaption of Bicentennial Man I’ve been working on…

Harlem Grey writing for Gamer Headlines on Minecraft:

The indie sand box game that would rock the world and give indie developers recognition. The other games on my list did great things for their genre, Minecraft revolutionized what it means to be indie. Low budget, little support, one man developing it. The Alpha was released on PC in 2009 and would later on rise in popularity, many updates saw the growth from the alpha into the game we have today. Minecraft fully represents the quote at the top of the page, it’s not the most beautifully detailed game, it has no story but the success of this game is all from you. You make the story, the world and the character in the simplest way.

Last week in my office, a mother brought her son to work and stationed him in an unused cubicle. He was equipped with nothing but a MacBook Air and headphones. Hours later, my colleague whispered for my attention and told me to look into the boy’s cubicle. Like the rare sight of a beaver build a dam, my colleague and I quietly watched in amazement.

This kid was flying through the world of Minecraft at breakneck speed, building up and tearing down the environment, crafting explosives to drill into its natural water-supply. He was architecting the world in his imagination in real-time. Unlike our need to buy specific LEGO sets for certain pieces we required, his limits were overcome with a quick toggle to YouTube a video teaching new techniques.

This jumping back-and-forth between learning and application, curiosity and realization, and the drive to engineer a universe was incredible to watch. Minecraft has the power to unlock imagination in ways we only dreamed of as children.

Riot Games:

From the beginning, we’ve focused on culture. We operate on a foundation of shared mission, values, passion, trust, and mutual respect. If someone gags on the unique flavor of our culture, they’d be doing themselves and the company a disservice to hang on just for the paycheck. Culturally aligned people and teams are more effective, and alignment around mission and values allows us to better serve players. We’ve designed Queue Dodge to help self-identified mismatches move on in an open, positive, and constructive way.

Quit with 10% salary up to $25,000 within 60 days of employment. Interesting; however, most find it takes 6-8 months to feel at home. I wonder if a decision at a yearly evaluation would be better or too late; too much invested by both ends to severe ties.

Excerpt from “Console Wars” by Blake J. Harris:

Kalinske nodded, returning to the moment. But before the girl could fix him a drink, she suddenly became transfixed by the Game Gear and, as with the well-dressed man, the world suddenly shrunk around her. Well, would you look at that, Kalinske mused, while having a revelation that would shape Sega, the videogame industry, and the face of entertainment as a whole. Videogames weren’t just for kids; they were for anyone who wanted to feel like a kid. Anyone who missed the freedom and innocence that comes with endless wonder. Videogames were for everyone; they just didn’t realize it yet.

I vividly remember seeing the Game Gear for the first time. A neighbor boy of my grandmother’s showed off Shinobi on the sidewalk in front of her house. Coming from the colorless world of Game Boy, the idea of rescuing different colored ninjas was a revelation. Until then, I had to imagine what Mega Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looked like in full color. Say what you will about its viewing angle, the Game Gear was magic to me.

Sarah Jeong of The Guardian on the anonymous nature if Uber:

It’s doubtful that Uber specifically set out to improve the lives of African-Americans. But the company accidentally did something that anti-discrimination statutes and awareness-raising campaigns were unlikely to ever achieve. It’s not exactly a huge blow to racism, but still: technology is changing how people of color experience and are represented in the world, and it’s all the more remarkable that much of this was never intended in the first place.

A very interesting read on technology’s inadvertent effects on racial and gender discrimination.