Denuo - denuology.com

We live in an amazing time. A time when a photography app with 13 employees . A moment when a failing gaming startup can be saved (to the tune of $200 Million) by their digital clone of a classic board game. While indicative of current bubble/not-a-bubble arguments going on in every VC boardroom on earth, these are simply stories. Blog worthy deals that make for great headlines. These are the flashy tales most admired and what draws the attention of the masses. But, lets zoom out and think about the larger trend going on here: We are witnessing technology chip away at industries, norms and assumptions that have been in place for so long most people fail to notice just how broken they are.

This is a time for connecting the dots. A time when teams are building tools that threaten decades old businesses and centuries old institutions. These digital tools of today are being bootstrapped in dorm rooms and conceived on whiteboards spread throughout the Valley and the Alley and the Loop. They are hustling to dismantle the business models of the past and fix problems that have been bugging our collective consciousness for far too long.

That’s the nature of disruption.

After five years in development, a slew of industry indie awards, and even some polarizing controversy surrounding its creator, Phil Fish, finally launched on Xbox Live Arcade a couple of weeks ago. And despite a growing list of game-breaking bugs, an atypical Friday launch (most new titles release on Tuesday), and Xbox Live’s less-than-friendly-to-indie-titles UI, Polytron’s retro-themed puzzle-platformer managed over 20,000 day-one downloads and a 90 Metacritic score, putting it on par with Limbo, another critically-acclaimed indie darling. Regardless of its faults or praise, however, if you’re taking Fez on its initial appearance, playing it only as the aforementioned puzzle-platformer, then you’re not really playing Fez, and your “Get to the end” achievement actually means you’re only halfway through.

Today I had my annual physical. This is a bit of a misnomer because I can’t remember the last time I had one and actually had to ask my doctor if she had forgotten to give me the exam. I thought it would be more…invasive. She said no – since I am healthy and young (to which I snorted), she didn’t need to poke and prod too much.

Anyway, during my visit, I got shot! No really, it was a Measles Mump Rubella booster, which I was told included the extra benefit of protection against pertussis – whooping cough. Yes, it’s back??? Despite Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s Vaccination and Autism study from 1998 being proven as false, people like Donald Trump still believe there is a link between the two. Why? Because the story tugs at our heartstrings – what parent would want to knowingly expose his or her children to risk?

So emotions sometimes win over hard facts, especially in cases like this where anecdotes are stickier than statistics. Look at your child and then look at the number zero. Which one would you remember? Feelings are appealing and stories are the perfect way to package them. That’s why companies are all about creating narratives right now, and obviously why this whole paragraph has been one big DUH.

But then I read something in the New York Times that left me confused, because even though I don’t agree with this particular outcome, I generally like when feelings win over data.

I had a whole post planned about emoticons. It had a provocative title: “Emoticons: The Most Important Advancement in Digital Culture Since the Internet.” It’s a little wordy, but totes provocative, amirite? It was based on the idea that since we’ve moved to such text heavy communication in the digital age, it is easy to misconstrue meaning. However, facial expressions are universal so emoticons can provide the subtext to conversation that we’re otherwise lacking. The issue, of course, is that subtext is most important when interacting with someone you don’t know very well but if there is anyone you shouldn’t use emoticons with (especially as a dude in his early 30′s) it is someone you don’t know very well. Then I would launch into a plea that we erase the stigma of emoticons because it’s a way to show emotion with anyone in the world.

Except for this critical detail. Apparently it isn’t. The article even calls out emoticons. What haters. But we at Denuo are never phased by a late audible, so here’s the fun we’ll have instead.

Just in time for Weekend 2, here are my thoughts on the best and worst of Coachella 2012 (Weekend 1):

TOP 5 ACTS AT COACHELLA 2011

1. Feist
2. Jeff Magnum
3. Pulp
4. The Rapture
5. Fitz & The Tantrums