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The Longform

Perpetually Updating

Later, later, later. That’s what we always say to those annoying popups. They hound us. They implore us to act on them. In the end, we find them supremely intrusive and frustrating. But it’s the world we now live in. It’s a place where nothing is produced in a Final version and we constantly have…

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All The Data

The same news comes around every few years: Friends, the TV show that shows no slowing down in popularity, moves to another streaming service. From Netflix to HBO Go Max, this is one show that always makes headlines when it moves. Plenty of others makes the rounds too: Seinfeld, classic Disney films, etc. But there…

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The Discman was amazing. The Discman was awful.

When it comes to music in the “before times” prior to the iPod, there was a huge boon when Sony introduced its Walkman portable cassette player. It was the first time someone could go anywhere and hear their music without carrying a giant boombox. It was the first time you could use headphones on the…

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I Spy With My Little TV

The march of technology is inevitable. As time passes, components get cheaper. Manufacturing costs dwindle as efficiencies get established. What was once an expensive device to build can get lower in price with better ways to do things. From computers to phones to most any gadget, we see this happen time and time again. But…

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Reboot Madness

Clicking around the internet, you may be looking for something new to watch. Some TV shows look interesting while some have run their course, yet continue for another season. But then you spot it. Something familiar. A title that hasn’t crossed your mind in 5, 10, or even 20 years. A TV show that once…

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Next Of Kin

The unveiling of a new product is a milestone for any company. Years of R&D, hundreds of hours in meetings, immense time and money spent, all to coalesce into a single moment: the launch. Every company has high hopes for their new products, but some fly higher than others. Even mediocre products can float along…

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Walking The Catalog

It’s a normal Saturday afternoon of browsing shelf after shelf of items for sale. Some displays are elaborately laid out. Other sections have setups that feature wonderful layouts on the walls. In the middle of it all is a jewelry section complete with attendants waiting to help their next customer. After going through the immaculate…

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Permanent Deletion

We scroll and eventually pause. Is it a funny photo that caught the eye? Perhaps it’s a memory that the algorithm has surfaced. Or maybe it’s simply some piece of content that’s got way too many likes and comments for its own good. It won’t be an ad, of course, because we scroll right by…

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Page ‘Em

It’s a beautiful day in the woods. Far off the grid, away from stores, people, or even shelters more stable than a tent, Jeff Wilson is backpacking through deep woods. It’s a return to nature that brings him enjoyment and is a complete disconnection from society. But Jeff has no connection to the world at…

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Nuggets and Noms

A pizza box sits on a table. Moments later two curious faces enter the frame, excited by its contents. The two keep glancing at each other while building their anticipation for what lies inside. Each speaks in a gibberish only the other can understand. With a lift of the lid, the pair are shocked to…

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The Paid Social Network Nobody Wanted

In the early 2010s there were two mighty giants in the social media landscape: Facebook and Twitter. One behemoth was scrapping its way in an attempt to be a third. This company was backed by lots of money, a thoughtful design, and a single focus to topple the others. It wanted to be king. But…

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The Contest to Steal Your Art

“Win an iPad!” the flyer said. Quite the prize and one that immediately enticed my kids to read on. In only a few paragraphs it was evident what was being proposed to school-aged children: they draw and design something that can go onto a t-shirt and in exchange the winner is given an iPad. I…

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Dial I for Information

It’s the top of the 5th inning and the NY Mets have a runner on first. I’m sitting with three of my closest friends at Yankee Stadium, enjoying a crisp summer evening when suddenly it hits me: I didn’t check the price of a single stock I owned. Did it close higher today? Did it…

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Twenty One Years and Waiting: The Fans Keeping Sliders Alive

“What do we do now?” Those were the final words uttered by a character in the final scene of the final episode, The Seer, of the final season of the 90’s sci-fi adventure show Sliders. The fate of humanity was in another character’s hands. He’d leaped through an interdimensional vortex and left his friends behind.…

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The PC Game That Stalked You

You log on and check your inbox. A new message has been sitting for a few hours and you anxiously click on it. It begins: Due to a fire at our Anim-X studios, we at Electronic Arts are forced to suspend the online game MAJESTIC until further notice. The message goes on to say they’re…

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Streaming Movies at Home Will Always Be Better… and it’s Theater’s Fault

Forget about COVID. This is the real reason I never go to the movies It’s the summer of 2008. I’m sitting in a packed theater waiting for The Dark Knight to begin. Knowing how awesome Batman Begins told the Batman origin story, I was elated to see the next installment from Christopher Nolan. 152-minutes later…

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Hello, Wrist

Events happen during our lives shaping how we live from that moment on. Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone in 2007 changed everything we do. The Nintendo Entertainment System hitting the US in 1985 revived a dying industry and set off a video game revolution. On April 11, 2012 an unknown group of five people would…