Denuo - denuology.com

As spring hits into high gear, we look forward to brining you all of the bloomin’ gaming news (get it? Because flowers are blooming and so are our artic…ah, forget it!)

This month’s feature story hits on two things the masses are loving the most – casual games and social media; a convergence that’s creating a super power toolset in the world of social influence.  We also took some time to jump into the Kickstarter rabbit hole for promising new games we’d put our money behind, and got sucked back into a little-known title called Angry Birds thanks to its evolving gameplay mechanics and marketing mix.

Download PLAYED now!

A couple years ago, Denuo had the entire company read and take a strengths assessment test from the book Strength’s Finder 2.0. Their goal: to better understand each of our personal strengths and weaknesses in order to more effectively structure projects and brainstorming sessions. My results, out of the 50+ possible, turned out to be relater, achiever, empathy, learner, and positivity. It also turned out, that when compared to my co-workers, I’m uniquely able to contribute the “talent” of empathy. I know, I know, “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” Thank you Margaret Mead for keeping me humble.

Startups are more omnipresent then neon these days. The explosion of VC funds, incubators, accelerators and other labs of the like is not limited to the coasts, as indicated by the venture moving in across the hall from our Chicago office next month. And with that little one billion dollar Instagram sale, the fever to come up with another elegantly simple, breakthrough idea is spreading even further.

To gain popularity, a potential startup these days doesn’t even need to be real, as demonstrated by the recent Tacocopter hoax. And it can also involve novelty toilet paper. In this era the bar can be low, so let’s make it even lower by celebrating pitches from three startups that haven’t, and probably shouldn’t, see the light of day.

This past week, I spent the night ahead of a family road trip at my sisters.  I’m not sure why I’ve never paid attention to this before but I discovered she charges her cell phone at night, in the kitchen of her two story home.  Now I know that I’m a tab dependent on my device but seriously, if I charged my phone at night in a different room other than my bedroom, I would wake in the middle of the night in a panic.  Actually I wouldn’t sleep as the single app I use everyday is not only my sound machine but both my actual alarm and bedside clock display.

This week is full of cool new tech: posters that kiss you, plants with emotions, musical jelly molds, and videos with built-in purchase.