Zeitheist, which demoed last night at NYGaming at AOL Ventures, is a new web-based Twitter meta-game. The idea of a Twitter-based game may be new, but Zeitheist is a pretty addictive thirty-second challenge, asking players how well they know what’s popular on Twitter right this second.

You’re given a random number of instances, and your goal is to pick 5 words that will appear on Twitter that number of times in the next 30 seconds. Your goal is to get as close to the randomly generated number as possible, so you can’t just toss lol or the into zeitheist for the obvious zillion hits.

Via I Heart Chaos — Zeitheist, The Twitter Trends Meta-Game

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Zeitheist

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GameTunnel was one of the first websites that focused on the indie gaming scene. It was founded in 2002 and had years of great coverage, monthly game roundups, game of the year awards, indie game reviews and more. The founder of the site left a few years ago and the new owners tried to carry on the site’s monthly coverage and legacy, but eventually got overwhelmed and stopped generating new content back in September of 2009.

Indie Game Magazine to the rescue!

Everyone here at the Indie Game Mag had been fans of GameTunnel and checked in on the website monthly and were sad to see the indie coverage drop off. Eventually, we got in contact with the site owners and ended up buying the site…

Like every other exciting indie games project, this one needs funding. Mike Gnade, my editor at IGM and an awesome guy in the indie games community, set up a Kickstarter page for the project.

Via Kickstarter

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Save GameTunnel!

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First and foremost, what would you say if I told you that 60% of women that play games don’t actually consider themselves gamers?

What would I say? Oh, I’d just be preparing myself for another one of these ZOMG! Girls play social games! conclusions. Of course people who play the odd Facebook game (ZOMG! Girls playing games! All game players aren’t antisocial teenage boys!) don’t call themselves gamers, kind of like the way people who enjoy fixing an occasional grilled cheese don’t call themselves gourmet chefs. Especially if “gourmet chef” was usually associated with angry, unshowered teenage boys.

(Yeah. Casual games are grilled cheese. Not my best metaphor ever.)

Via Girls Got Game! A Look at Gender & Gaming | Frisky Mongoose

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

New Study: Still Shocked By Girls Playing Games

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Thank you for making my taxes kind of annoying instead of a total nightmare. Sure, it cost most of my tax return to pay for the TurboTax version for under-employed freelancers, but that’s fine. You made it easier to turn a stack of 1099s and scribbled receipts into the single-digit check I’ll be receiving from the state of North Carolina. This is the very first year I’ve filed on time, and it’s all thanks to you. (Well, thanks to you and a nagging worry that I might be paying this year instead of receiving, and I’ve heard the IRS is less forgiving about late filing when one is meant to be sending them money.)

But a Captcha at the end? Seriously? A check to see if I’m human after all that? Turbo, honey, if there were a program that could find my gross income from last year’s return, the employer numbers from a half dozen 1099s, my date of birth, my social security number, my special TurboTax pin, my routing number and bank account number, and then put all those numbers into the right little boxes on a hundred different pages… well, if there were a bot like that, I don’t think it would be thwarted by a Captcha image!

Meg

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The TurboTax Turing Test

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1. Beijing Boyce - A Somewhat Young China Hand on the Local Drinking Scene – Looks at pubs, clubs, and bars, wine, Whiskey, and cocktails, in the nation’s capital, often through the somewhat blurry lens of nights out with friends

2. Thomas Crampton – China, Media and Technology as seen by a recovering journalist – China, Internet and new media seen from Asia

3. Absurdity, Allegory and China – The Kingdom from another angle

4. China Hope Live - a Canadian-American couple with M.A.s in Intercultural Studies trying to live into and love – and some days just survive – China.

5. Reflections in a Chinese Eye – American expat, retired, part time teacher, my experience in China for the past two years.  Opinions, news, musings of an uneducated, ignorant, but still learning “Old Man.”

6. Expatriate Games - An America experiencing mid-life in The Middle Kingdom, living in, working for and learning about China. I agreed to teach English to the

7. ISpyShanghai.com - Popular funny blog based in Shanghai. Originator of Shoe Tuesday- the only footwear / day combination you will ever need.

8. Simpson’s Paradox – Living, working and playing videogames in Beijing. (Formerly Violet Eclipse)

9. The Humanaught: Life In Suzhou – The discursive writings of a Canadian expat somewhat trapped in China. The blog follows his life in Suzhou, with topics ranging from the mundane to insane.

10. Ambassador Doodle - Stories of travel, education and adventure.

Via PanAsianBiz >> The 60 Best Blogs On China In English

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Best China Blogs

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8 ) Caramel Apple Crack at Starbucks.

I don’t know if the Starbucks in China has this, because I was too busy slurping up all the real-bean coffee and then getting the jitters. I don’t know what’s in it, either. I asked Stick and he thinks maybe it’s sunshine and rainbows and highly addictive chemicals.

Note: This is not a paid advertisement, but if Starbucks would pay me I would totally advertise the Apple Crack. In fact, I’d even call it by its proper name.

7) Not working retail on Black Friday. It’s been years now that I haven’t BUT I still feel good waking up the day after Thanksgiving and knowing I don’t have to ring up frazzled shoppers. If you are such a shopper, be extra nice to the sales assistants. I’m also thankful for not having to shop on Black Friday.

6) Being back in the land of English bookstores. And libraries. And newspapers. And Cosmo magazine, wait, I mean all magazines. I think I have to change this one to all English printed matter.

5) Freakishly good weather here in Nascar land. I think I’ve wore a hat one morning so far.

4) Getting the gig with the Middle Earth poster. You know when internships talk about how valuable the experience is, how much you’ll learn, and all the mentoring you’ll get, and that’s why they don’t have to pay any money? This job is like that, only they pay me.

3)  My Stivison family and my Malavette family.

2) Western food. No, wait, what I really meant was Southern food. Apparently food needs a compass direction to be extra tasty. I was in Yantai and Beijing for the last two Thanksgivings, and while I wouldn’t miss my China holidays for anything, I’m excited about eating some deep-fried turkey. [not hyperbole]

1)  Stick.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Thanksgiving

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The Garnisher – Application to the Evil League of Evil from The Garnisher on Vimeo.

Related: Stephen’s Space Chase

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Supervillian Applications

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“I was a little disappointed the media called it a tie but I think that means, when they call it a tie, that means we win.”

– Sen. John McCain, quoted by Reuters, “during a telephone call that was caught by cameras filming him at his campaign headquarters.”

This is, by the way, how my niece Isabelle sees a tie in Balloon Lagoon, too.

Via Political Wire, from Reuters.

From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Tie

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From the blog Simpson's Paradox, please comment here:

Captcha Fortunetelling

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This is not a paid advertisement (those are over in the margin!), I am not getting cash or a free t-shirt for this. (I did ask for a sample of Magazine Pages, though.) Weird Fragrances didn’t ask me to write about them, but if they happen to find my blog, I suggest Hotel Swimming Pool as a new scent.

Update: Since I posted this 9/08 and it’s now 4/09, and I’ve never gotten this scent in the mail, it’s probably safe to say I’m never going to find out what Magazine Pages scent smells like.

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Bertie Botts Every Flavour Perfumes

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