Arts & Culture. Color Explorer. The camera in the mirror. Doodles. 30th Anniversary of PAC-MAN. When I was growing up, my dad had the best job I could possibly imagine: he was an arcade game and pinball technician. For me, that meant summer trips through Poland’s coastal cities with their seasonal arcade parlors; peeking inside cabinets to learn programming and engineering secrets; and—of course—free games!
One of my favorites was PAC-MAN, whose popularity transcended the geopolitical barriers of that time. During the heyday of space shooters, Tōru Iwatani’s creation stood out as one of the first video games aimed at a broader audience, with a cute story of pizza-shaped character gobbling dots in a maze, colorful (literally!) Characters, friendly design, very little violence and everlasting fun. Today, on PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday, you can rediscover some of your 8-bit memories—or meet PAC-MAN for the first time—through our first-ever playable Google doodle. PAC-MAN™ & ©1980 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. PAC-MAN seems like a natural fit for the Google homepage.
Google launches 'Think Quarterly' online magazine. Google has made its first foray into magazine production, with the launch of a magazine called Think Quarterly. The 62-page magazine, which appears to be a project from Google's UK wing, describes itself as "a breathing space in a busy world". The first issue focuses on data -- with features on open data, online video advertising, data obesity, Barclays cycle hire and near-field communications.
The design is clean and open, with plenty of white space and a focus on large photos and illustrations. It hasn't been built in-house by Google. Instead, a London-based design firm called The Church of London put it together using Issuu as a viewer. A few dead-tree copies will be produced, for "key Google customers", but most of us will have to read it online, either in its browser form, or a mobile version. Is it a glorified bit of propaganda? What do you think? Think Quarterly. Googleart: 10 chefs-d'oeuvre de la pe...