New Florence. New Renaissance.

If Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep watching TV

…20 years ago, he would wake up a wild new world of today's television

Costco Connection has a primer on LED, OLED, QLED, Mini-LED sets and resolutions – 1080p, 4K, 8K, HDR, Dolby Vision

Popular Science provides an update on TVs at this week’s CES in Vegas

and then there is the ever changing range of streaming, cable and other content

Michael Saves discusses likely streaming trends in 2022

50 years of gaming history

Console makers like Microsoft and Sony are launching cloud-based subscription services even while they continue to develop new consoles. Meanwhile, Amazon and Google are launching their own services that work on multiple devices, mobile included.

After seeing the success that games like Pokémon Go had on smartphones—reaching more than $1 billion in yearly revenue—and Grand Theft Auto V’s record breaking haul of $1 billion in just three days, companies are targeting as much of the market as they can.

Visual Capitalist

click on image to enlarge

 

Lego will now teach kids coding and robotics

Lego is introducing a new coding and robotics set called Spike Prime that it hopes will break through with a notoriously distracted audience.

Lego has already dabbled in this world with its Lego Mindstorms line. But those kits can potentially intimidate at the 11- to 14-year-old level, both in complexity and design. Mindstorms tend toward a black and red color palette, with builds that lean heavily on cyberpunk sci-fi imagery. Think “robots with mohawks.” By contrast, the Spike Prime set aims for accessibility, opting for bright colors, friendly shapes, and drag-and-drop coding tools that gently nudge students towards learning.

Wired

 

 

 

The Fortnite Metaverse

Saw this in Redef thanks to Thomas Otter

"The proof of Fortnite’s unique potential was demonstrated live on February 1, 2019. At 2pm Eastern, the Marshmello (who ranks #10 in DJ Magazine’s Top 100) held a live concert that was held exclusively inside Fortnite. The event, which was live synced to the real Marshmello, was attended by more than 10MM in the game – with millions more watching live via Twitch and YouTube – many of whom used their characters’ user-specific dance moves to join in. The event was stunning. And it showcases the potential of the Metaverse (including payment for performances, music rights, etc.), wherein a user can have potentially unlimited experiences inside a single medium."

 

Esports as the new Premed

The Ohio State University recently announced an e-sports program for the upcoming fall semester that includes courses about coaching e-sports teams, marketing video games, and managing the business side of gaming. There’s also a new major: a bachelor of science in game design and e-sports.

Bloody shooter games like Call of Duty are a long way from traditional college subjects such as literature or chemistry. But with billions of dollars invested in video games, plus the huge money that fans splurge on game-related merchandise, careers in e-sports are booming.

Fortune

 

 

Prosthetics and games

Limbitless says that games are a great gateway for kids to feel comfortable with their new prosthetic arms, and so the company makes its own video games to help kids adapt to their 3D printed arms. EMG sensors pick up on different flex patterns on the arm, which allow the user to control the fingers. With video game-inspired prosthetic arms that look this cool, maybe kids can be empowered to feel like heroes.

The Verge

Havana’s street network

With no real money, and working in a dictatorship’s gray zone, the gamers have cobbled together a faster network with more services than anything this socialist worker’s paradise has managed to produce. I sit in mute admiration as Ian shows me clones of billion-dollar US internet entities. All of it existing in near-­isolation from the outside world, just a hundred miles from the US. As often happens with outside observers of the Cuban reality, my two recurring thoughts are: By God, what could these people accomplish if they didn’t have the government gorilla sitting on their faces, asphyxiating everything? Or if they had easy access to all that Silicon Valley has to offer?

Wired UK

Video Game Scholarships!

They’re the best of the best in college sport. They’re intensely recruited out of high school, they’re cheered by fans for their amazing skills, and, if they win, their universities bask in the glory. But they’re not football or basketball stars. They’re video game players, many of whom go by quirky screen names like Cackgod, Walrus, and Prototype.

An increasing number of colleges have created e-sports programs, looking for the top competitive video gamers in the country. And they’re offering some impressive incentives.

At Robert Morris University, in Chicago, all 80 members of the school’s e-sports teams get scholarships that cover up to 70% of their annual tuition. And earlier this year, the University of Utah announced plans to offer partial scholarships to e-sport athletes.

Fortune

 

IMAX’s virtual reality parlors

Imax, best known for its high-tech movie screens, hopes others will feel the same at its new VR parlors. For $1 a minute, a group of friends can experience flight as eagles above a deserted Paris or dive into a world of criminals as assassin John Wick from the movie franchise of the same name. Ticketing is similar to most theaters: You can book time slots in advance online or purchase them at the center.

Imax says the initial reception to VR content—often around 10 minutes—at the Imax VR center in L.A. has been so enthusiastic that it’s increasing the number of locations, to 11 from 6, for the rollout.

Bloomberg

 

Doodle Fruit Games

To mirror the Rio Olympics, you may have noticed interactive doodles for the last 16 days on the Google home page. And you could download those games in the Google Play and Apple iOS stores. In some ways more fun, and lots less controversial than the Rio events or all the political games