Haven't we already learned this from such "discussion mediums" as the Slashdot comment section? Its easier to lie when you don't have to cover your body language, quivers in voice or other "give aways".

Am I the only one who thinks that since they failed to do their mandated job they shouldn't have that job any longer? If I was given an explicit task (and not an overly abstract or vague one at that) and told to complete it by a certain date, I'd be expected to produce something at the very end. If what I provided was a list of places I could point my finger then I'd be out on my ass!

But why was it "Angry Birds" instead of "Alternative minigame X"? That's the point of writing articles/researching topics like this. What made Angry Birds the winner and not something else? In many cases its simply Marketing or Timing that win the pot but it doesn't mean it can't be fun to investigate deeper reasons.

You're right... but it doesn't mean he's wrong. I was a "hardcore gamer" in highschool and university (until I took uni seriously). I graduated and have almost everything you list to care for but it doesn't mean I still call myself "hardcore" because I *know* that's a lie. The torch has been passed. These 14 y/o squeeky things I find online are the new hardcores and as much as it pains me to say it... they're better.

So yeah I'm a casual. Most of my friends are too. We want instant gratification, not 50hrs of learning curve before "enjoyment" starts because 50hrs of play can be upwards of 6 months to a year and by then another game we're interested in has been released.

Yay another flamebait article!

The article states that since low end "smartphones" are being installed with Android it is costing carriers more in warranty and repair costs. It has nothing to do with the Android platform and is more of a side effect where the cheap manufacturers elected to go with Android over another OS.

Consider how much investment you want from a developer to entertain you while you poop? Personally I wouldn't be willing to pay for a game that only gets my attention during that period of the day. So having said that, why should the developer try to create the next big blockbuster with an enormous amount of development time to capture the same market that they'd capture by developing a mini-game?

If you're getting these free games to occupy an hour or so of your free time and complaining about repetitiveness I think you need to reevaluate what you spend your time with because these games aren't supposed to make you want to book time out of your day to play them like console games with multiplayer and the like are.

I've posted this previously but I keep thinking it deserves merit:

Dead Man's Switch

Its a project that emails you periodically. If you don't respond it fires off a pre-defined message to a set of individuals you've chosen. Full disclaimer here, I have nothing to do with the project and I have not yet tested it myself but it doesn't seem like a difficult system to set up.... cron job + mail server + port listening app.

Or you know.... google

Little Johnny is allowed to refine that vision as he's provided more experience and insight afterall... There's such a thing as getting 1 or 2 years into a degree and going "Maybe this isn't for me" or "I don't think I can do anything with this degree."

Check this out: http://beta.deadmansswitch.net/

Its a service that you register with that periodically sends you emails you must respond to. If you don't respond to the email the service assumes you've passed away and then sends out an email to the people you indicated previously. I haven't given it a try yet but it might be handy to have for when I keel off and business partners need access to my data.

Its simpler than that I think. Apple TV tied into an iPad or iPhone works pretty fluently with the provided apps (not 3rd party). The example I can think of witnessing is the MLB app where you watch the game(s) but your iDevice shows stats that you can browse and interact with relating to the game.

Extend that idea to an "app" being a game and your iDevice being the controller and Apple TV being this "Mystery Box" and you suddenly have a game console.

The hardware would need improvement to be a true gaming experience but that's not to say it is a stretch.

Yes the vendor did screw me but it was in such a way that if I had paid through a real bank or credit card service I wouldn't have been bent over.

I'm over being sour about it and moved on. I just reiterate that my experience with PayPal was that they could do anything. The situation was that I paid for certain items and the vendor sent the wrong stuff, refusing to accept that they were in mistake because "their records" showed everything correctly (shipping screwed up). When I contacted PayPal the agent said that I was out of luck because the vendor only has to provide a proof of shipping to refute any claims I had against them. The agent supposedly tried to contact the vendor but received no response and then said "well, I guess that's that."

Again, all fairness to you, the agent was very helpful and kind. You deal with numerous issues daily and I can't expect my hand to be held along the way (shit happens) but I was upset with the response of "they provide shipping notice -> you lose". There was no "acceptable" record of what the items I was promised was because the contact leading up to the transaction was not on ebay and was done though a web forum.

My personal experience is the lack of effort to do anything about transactions gone wrong. I had an issue with the vendor and was told that since it was not done through ebay they couldn't do anything for me. "You're S.O.L. for $300" is what I got from Paypal... with a credit card I could at least have fought the charges but Paypal takes your money with the guise of a credit card company while providing next to zero actual resolution.

I've learned my lesson and this isn't a "whine" post but I'm just pointing out what you asked for.

Not really? They're thriving at the rate they're charging now. Having that the "lower bound" of their costs wont push people away unless they get hung up on the figurative value of what they "could" make.

Cost to run in-house IT/etc.:
- Personel wage
- Facilities
- Administrative costs
- Training
- + others

Cost to pay contractors:
- Wage/Contract cost

Typically they're similar or the contract will come in lower. Wage is not the only variable in the entire equation