Tag: email_newsletter

“Since 2010, councils have had 60 per cent of their spending power cut by central government, which aggressively reduced funding in a bid to reduce Britain’s budget deficit after the 2008 financial crash. (In 2009-10, the deficit reached 10 per cent of GDP, and the national debt was at 67 per cent by May 2010.) Government ministers encouraged councils to be more entrepreneurial and raise their own funds through commercial investment, and in 2015 abolished the Audit Commission, which had kept a check on their finances. Council officers became prime targets for dubious investment propositions”

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2024/03/bust-britain

“MAGMA aims to change that, at least in Gramatneusiedl. The long-term unemployed in the town are guaranteed a job: That’s the program’s promise. Nobody is forced to work, but those willing to do so are paid the minimum wage and work either at a workshop belonging to the project or in a company that receives support from the state. And the whole thing is to cost the AMS less than long-term unemployment already does – around 30,000 euros per year. The hope is that the program will improve people’s lives, that they will reintegrate into the labor market, and that the work they perform as part of the MAGMA program will boost the local economy”

https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/a-model-ignored-uncertain-future-for-successful-austrian-employment-program-a-0fde0a32-f7a3-4f04-9f65-368564b1a308

“The three men played a critical role in the industry that enabled the production of atomic weapons, but instead of optimizing production to benefit the Americans, British, or Canadians, they knowingly slowed down activities for personal gain. If the Nazis had been quicker in their nuclear research, this embezzling might have had far-reaching consequences”

https://thewalrus.ca/unearthing-a-nuclear-scandal/

“To hit the graphical fidelity of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth required an exponentially larger team, where engineers and artists have specialized roles and couldn’t just get their hands on everything the way Kitase could in the 1990s.

“Now, if I want something to be created, I need to document my thoughts and ideas, communicate what I’m envisioning to someone who has the skills,” Kitase said”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-03-01/-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-director-on-supersizing-a-mythical-universe

“Andrew Fray, a lead programmer at UK studio Roll7, makers of OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome, shared what they called the PS2 manifesto on social media earlier this month: “7-13 hours of content. Combine a few old ideas in a new way, or have one big new idea. No complicated character upgrade trees. Limited online, little post-launch support. 2 ish years, 30 game devs. Thanks for your money, on to the next one.” This attitude gave us so many weird classics 20 years ago, games that are difficult to imagine existing now, from Ico to Gitaroo Man. None of them were multimillion sellers but, crucially, they didn’t have to be”

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/feb/28/pushing-buttons-playstation-job-losses

“To court the large demographic of customers moulded by the internet, more cafes adopted the aesthetics that already dominated on the platforms. Adapting to the norm wasn’t just following trends but making a business decision, one that the consumers rewarded. When a cafe was visually pleasing enough, customers felt encouraged to post it on their own Instagram in turn as a lifestyle brag, which provided free social media advertising and attracted new customers. Thus the cycle of aesthetic optimisation and homogenisation continued”

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/jan/16/the-tyranny-of-the-algorithm-why-every-coffee-shop-looks-the-same

“Threads is massive, but its user base is lurkers and influencers. Like being in the audience of a Marvel movie, you may consume some professionally produced content, but you’re certainly not going to form any lasting memories. For the past year, Bluesky has been pure posters, locked in a room with each other, deprived of much of the dopamine that they need to maintain their frenetic energy. And Mastodon is a community of commenters and reply guys, decentralised to the point that it’s possible to have a nice chat, but difficult to discern a conversation arising from within”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/13/bluesky-twitter-jack-dorsey-social-network

“Microsoft has effectively backed itself into a corner from which no escape route is totally desirable. In many ways, the smart thing would be to combine the business models of Sega, which abandoned console development after the failure of Dreamcast and became a third-party games publisher, and Valve, which stopped being a developer and became a digital platform holder with Steam. In effect, it could abandon the Xbox hardware and concentrate on bringing Microsoft exclusives to other platforms while maintaining the Xbox name for a streaming service accessible via PC, phones and smart devices. But that would leave a lot of extremely unhappy Xbox fans”

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/feb/07/pushing-buttons-xbox-future-phil-spencer

“This venue –and every publication is a venue with its own dress code and decor, its favoured clientele and font-choice aesthetic –felt more like the Garrick than a youth club: deep-chaired, wood-panelled, its resident critics ruthless and assured, unafraid to skewer whatever video game everyone else was busily fawning over. Edge’s writers became my tutors; they helped me develop a sense of taste, to recognise brilliance, and to mourn the distance between intention and attainment”

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/jan/31/pushing-buttons-video-game-magazines