Goodbye TUAW and Joystiq

I regret to inform you that two of my favorite news sites, TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) and Joystiq, are shutting down. Thanks for nothing, AOL.

But you know what they say: change is good. Having mentioned that, I’m glad to see at least Joystiq live on in some sort of way at engadget.com/gaming.

I still had so many TUAW and Joystiq posts to show you. I’ve been stacking them in my bookmarks but never got around to link them here and write down some of my thoughts along with them. Now, with both sites vanishing, I don’t know how long their old posts will stay up. I feel like suddenly time is running out. That’s why I will dump all links to those posts I still wanted to direct your attention to here and maybe write something about them later.

It’s an odd thought that anything on the internet could vanish at all. We take it for granted that sites will exist forever and ever, but all it takes is a corporation to decide to shut down a website or a server. Hopefully though, we will always have archive.org and its WayBackMachine. In fact, I just tried it and both the TUAW and Joystiq websites are well preserved. Good job!

Anyway, check out all these interesting tidbits. I tried to group them more or less topically and list them more or less chronologically.

TUAW

Why 9:41 AM is always the time displayed on iPhones and iPads
Why is time on Apple Watch promotional ads set to 10:09?

LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0: the flash drive you want for the zombie apocalypse

iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor gets completely misunderstood

Go, You Chicken Fat, Go!: The story of the Youth Fitness Song

Legendary ad man Lee Clow talks about Steve Jobs’ love of branding and more
Steve Jobs sobbed in the wake of Antennagate
Video: Every Steve Jobs “boom” in under four minutes
Funny moments with Steve Jobs

Jony Ive talks about the link between design and engineering, the need for failure, and more

This Apple 3.0 poster is a must-have for every Apple fan

Apps teachers use to tame the classroom and teach their students
Educational bloggers chime in with their favorite back-to-school apps
Best educational apps for middle schoolers
Best educational apps for high school students

How to make OS X Mavericks re-run the Setup Assistant

Joystiq

Speedrunners make Super Mario World reprogram itself to play Pong, Snake

Sonic the Hedgehog box art illustrator Greg Martin passes away

Travel to the Nebula of NES Games in this handy chart

‘Project Unity’ is 15 fully-functional consoles in one giant box
RetroN 5 and the uncomfortable tension between old and new
All-in-one retrogaming console RetroN 5 now available for pre-order
RetroN 5 retro console delayed to December 10
RetroArch authors: RetroN 5’s emulators, code violate licenses

Study: Dance games help bladder control, urinary incontinence

PBS’ Game/Show asks, ‘What is a Gamer?’
Co-Opinion: How sporty are eSports?
Capcom officially uploads I Am Street Fighter documentary to YouTube
Editor’s Note: We Are Always Fighting
StarCraft 2 and the quest for the highest APM

What happened to all of the women coders in 1984
Nightline investigates GamerGate, online harassment

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And I thought strafe-jumping was leet

If you enjoy mastering a videogame to the degree of knowing and abusing every glitch and mechanical anomaly (e.g. strafe-jumping in Quake), or if you’re just plain nuts, you will enjoy this video:

Item abuse 2 TAS in 7:37.83

They make these things tool-assisted for a reason.  

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What happens when you cross the streams?

I’m getting more and more excited about the new Ghostbusters game, although we don’t know all that much about it yet. Why do I get excited then? It’s… it’s simply the Ghostbusters, and they’re awesome!

But here’s an interesting fact: In this post the good folks from joystiq report that there’s gonna be several multiplayer options in the game. But …

The problem, see, is that Atari forgot one important piece of information concerning any Ghostbusters multiplayer experience: What happens when you cross the streams? It’s a vital detail and, frankly, we’re shocked it’s not even mentioned.

Because we know what happens when you do:

Ghostbusters with Action Figures

Until the game is released, I guess I’ll drive around Paradise City with the legendary Ectomobile (part of the Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars).

Who you gonna call?!

Continueing from my previous post, I’ld like to point out a particular awesome gang: The Ghostbusters!
I mean come on, they have Proton Packs, Ghost Traps, and most important, they drive around in their awesome Ectomobile which makes that unique siren sound. Also, there will be a new video game soon. (Actually, the old trailer is a lot funnier.)

The Ghostbusters are so well known in pop culture, you can ask anyone on the street, on the bus or in your office or school: “Who you gonna call?!” and they’ll respond to you with the only possible answer. Try it out, it’s fun!