Microsoft's Don Mattrick on 'backwards compatibility'

The Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft’s Mattrick says he doesn’t think compatibility is really a problem. He said only 5% of customers play older games on a new videogame system anyway, so spending time and money to develop technology to allow them to play older games isn’t worth it.

“If you’re backwards compatible, you’re really backwards,” he said.

But plugging a cable box into a video game console is forward thinking.

Okay. Got it.

After all, worked out so well for Microsoft in the 90s.

YouTube user Darkbeatdk took it upon himself to sum up today’s Xbox One reveal in 1.5 minutes. Suffice it to say Microsoft knows where the future of Xbox lies: TV, TV, TV, Sports, Sports, TV, Call of Duty, Dog.

(Source: Kotaku)

Alternate Illustrated poster for Star Trek Into Darkness by Paul Shipper.

Part of me wishes Hollywood still cared about poster art, because this piece is wonderful. His poster for the 2009 reboot is even better.

(Source: paulshipperstudio.com)

The day Tienlon Ho was dumped... by Google!

Not to spoil the ending, but this stood out to me:

My data was intact save for the last thing I’d worked on–a spreadsheet containing a client’s account numbers and passwords. It seems that Google’s engineers determined this single document violated policy and locked down my entire account. My request to get that document back is still pending.

That’s all it took: one spreadsheet.

100 Years Later

This wonderful collection of “aged” odds-and-ends comes from Japanese artist Maico Akiba, who explores the idea of what our various belongings might look like after we’re dead and gone.

Each item has been hand-painted to create the illusion of time’s passing.

(via Spoon & Tamago)

Randy Kennedy for The New York Times:

…as the show prepared for its new season, which begins April 7, its creator, Matthew Weiner, inspired by a childhood memory of lush, painterly illustrations on T.W.A. flight menus, decided to turn back the promotional clock. He pored over commercial illustration books from the 1960s and ’70s and sent images to the show’s marketing team, which couldn’t quite recreate the look he was after.

“Finally,” he said, “they just looked up the person who had done all these drawings that I really loved, and they said: ‘Hey, we’ve got the guy who did them. And he’s still working. His name is Brian Sanders.’ ”

More here.

Watch This: House of Cardinals

Don’t deny it, you’d watch it.

The Hollywood Reporter: NBC Discussing Jay Leno Exit Plan

Kim Masters:

Sources believe the network will bring in Fallon partly out of concern about the competition on ABC, which moved younger-skewing Jimmy Kimmel to the 11:35 time slot in January. “The more time Jimmy Kimmel is in that slot, the more the young audience goes that way, the harder it is for Jimmy [Fallon] to keep that audience,” says a source familiar with the network’s thinking.

I really got to hope that NBC isn’t stupid enough to let “fear” rule against Leno… again. I’m not fan of the man, however, he still brings in big late-night numbers for the network. Just not in the coveted 18-49 demogrpahic, those are skewing towards Kimmel.

Also, NBC really can’t afford any more risks with their lineup at this point.

The only reason the Peacock might considered dumping Jay is money. Leno, the star, costs the network around $15 million a year - although this was reduced last year from the original $30 million. Additionally, advertising revenue on The Tonight Show is also down according to The Wall Street Journal.

Fallon won’t bring in bigger numbers, but he’s better for the bottom line.

As always, we’ll see what happens…

Joshua Topolsky for The Verge:

Have we done something wrong? Have we screwed up something fundamental, that you’re, like, ‘I just want to have a more human experience. Let me put on these robot sunglasses’?

In all honesty, this is the question with Google Glass. Sure, it’s a cool gadget. But what real need do they fill? Ultimately that’s what makes a good tech product, a great one: a purpose.

The Awl: How 'Minority Report' Trapped Us In A World Of Bad Interfaces