Reports Of The Mouse’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
The Magic Trackpad (if I must call it that) has generated some controversy on the TC network. MG thinks it signals the end of the mouse era. I think it’s a great tool but is being lauded by a group of people unfamiliar with decent mice (read: Mac users). I happen to love both Apple’s trackpads and great mice at the same time, but it seems to me that we’re overlooking the real conflict here. And as it turns out, mice and trackpads (magic or otherwise) are on the same side.
The next generation of input is already here; chances are you have it in your pocket. Yet, advanced as it is, there are fundamental shortcomings that will prevent it from completely supplanting the interfaces we’ve grown up with.
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The Daily Grind: Have you been discriminated against in game?
One of the uglier aspects of gamer culture is the tendency to breed, shall we say, a lack of tolerance and respect for those who are "not us." The general anonymity of the online world can bring the worst out in some, with little to check these attitudes unless contrary peer pressure is summoned.
So at the risk of reopening old wounds, today we want to ask if you have ever been discriminated against in an MMO based on who you were, what you believed or what you represented. Maybe you felt the sting of ageism as you were shut out of a guild due to being "too young" for the group. Maybe your feminine voice on Vent changed how players treated you -- and not in a good way. Maybe your ethnicity, sexuality, faith, sense of humor, fashion style or cat/dog preference netted you a cold shoulder from the community. Or maybe -- and this is far-fetched -- you've been discriminated against solely because of your lackluster gear or less-than-optimal character build. Hey, it happens (or so the legend goes).
Have you been discriminated against in game? Pipe up, and let's sew those old wounds shut once and for all!
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind
The Daily Grind: Have you been discriminated against in game? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Facebook Has Been Massively Underreporting Twitter App Users — By Over 6 Million
Inside Network’s AppData is a goldmine of information about third-party applications on Facebook. With it, you can see stats like: FarmVille has 63.9 million monthly active users — making it nearly three times as large as the number two app on Facebook, Texas HoldEm Poker (also a Zynga game), which has 28.5 million monthly active users. But there was always something a little wonky about certain areas of AppData’s data. For example, they showed that Facebook for Android only had 67 monthly active users — yes, 67. But something happened this past week that seemed to correct the data, and it exposed one new massive Facebook app: Twitter.
As Inside Facebook (another site under InsideNetwork) noted yesterday, some change Facebook recently made appears to have corrected the stats for a number of apps. The aforementioned Facebook for Android shot up to 4.7 million MAU from its 67 — a 7 million percent increase. The other big increase in the top 10 gainers? Twitter, which went from it’s previously reported number of just over 400,000 users, to nearly 7 million — a change of over 1,300 percent. And the app still appears to be growing pretty fast. The Twitter app’s own page on Facebook now confirms this new number.
Obviously, the app didn’t jump like that overnight, there was clearly an error before. Still, this information is interesting because it shows just how big an app made by Facebook rival Twitter is on Facebook itself. Its 6.7 million MAU makes it the 40th most popular app on Facebook, according to AppData’s numbers. That’s pretty significant.
Twitter’s app on Facebook has been the center of some controversy on the network for some time. A year ago, the app appeared to be badly broken (or exploited), and neither side appeared to be rushing to fix it. At the time, due to this underreporting, it looked like the app was relatively small (250,000 users, we reported at the time) — now it’s clear it was much, much bigger. Million of users were likely affected.
Earlier today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared some thoughts with Inside Facebook about Twitter. Notably, he admitted that he spent too much time thinking about the rival network over the past year and a half. But now he views it as a “very nice, simple service.” One that just happens to be one of the top apps on his platform.
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