~pretty gritty~

Forget ASMR, forget YouTube hypnosis -- that stuff's the minor leagues. If you're looking for truly transcendental videos, you need to watch this woman ice Hungarian cookies. It's restorative; it's meditative; it's entrancing; it's going viral even as we speak. In fact, I'm having a v. hard time focusing on this when those cookies are open on my other screen.

1. Inside the collapse of the app economy. Downloads of non-gaming apps are expected to quadruple by 2016. But that's for giant app-makers in giant foreign markets -- the space for small, indie developers is collapsing. Maybe they'll come up with new business models or better marketing plans. Or maybe we'll have to learn to do without them.

2. What's the purpose of humans in a world of AI? It was our purpose to tell machines what to do, but we're gradually leaving that behind. The verdict's out on whether we're now heading to a higher goal, or setting up to play video games all the time.

3. The latest wrinkle in Twitter's fight versus abuse: It can be tricky to tell the difference between the absurdist jokers and actual goons.

... you rang?
(link)

Postscripts: Hot farmers. Miserable men. Seeing eye goats and techy lesbians. Who's behind #BlackLivesMatter and why you're so damn lonely. In honor of his birthday, Dr. Seuss gets ~pretty gritty.~ Has Donald Trump ever used a computer? Can you guess the karma of these photos? What's going on in Chris Christie's head, no one actually knows. The dark side of going viral and the tricky way of doing it. FYI, if there WAS a 'Friends' game, I would be all over it.

See ya tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

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