By Sean Willett
Valve — a company mostly known for developing popular video games such as Portal and Team Fortress 2 — has recently announced the upcoming release of a Linux-based operating system meant to be compatible with the company’s popular PC game distribution network, Steam. Along with this operating system, titled SteamOS, Valve also intends to develop… Continue reading Northern Sprites: A hearty bowl of SteamOS
In the last part of my fall television column I previewed four shows I was looking forward to this fall: The Blacklist, Sleepy Hollow, Dracula and Almost Human. This week I look at a show that should have been included last week: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Often called this fall’s most… Continue reading Screen Time: Fall television preview, part two
There’s a long list of new television shows this fall all vying for your procrastination. Some will be worth your time, others won’t. Over the next couple weeks, I’m going to break down a number of new shows and help you decide where it’s worth wasting time rather than studying. This week I’ll start with… Continue reading Screen Time: Fall television preview, part one
Predictions about Hollywood’s demise, or about fundamental shifts in the way studios produce movies, seem to arise summer after summer as the media and the Internet respond to various box office failures. But not much has drastically changed for Hollywood since the introduction of 3D, despite what doomsayers say. Six major films “flopped” at the… Continue reading Screen Time: Playing it safe
By Sean Willett
If you ask almost any Canadian how they feel about their country’s phone companies, you probably won’t receive a very positive answer. People are painfully aware that the Big Three Canadian telecommunication companies — Bell, Rogers and Telus — have notoriously overcharged Canadians for cellphone services. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development… Continue reading Northern Sprites: Nothing like a little friendly competition
Two years ago, if I listed off my favourite shows, not one of them would have been Canadian. As a Canadian, I would still have rather watched American television than Canadian television. But that has changed recently. A handful of Canadian shows have been getting attention, two science fiction shows in particular. This year has… Continue reading Screen Time: Why we should be excited about Canadian television
Scripted television comes in two flavours: the serial variety and the procedural variety. Serial television shows follow storylines across an entire season. Procedural shows offer individual storylines within a single episode. A show’s identity and audience appeal is usually determined by which category it fits into. Some successful serials do manage to balance season-long story… Continue reading Screen Time: Balancing serial and procedural
By Sean Willett
With the heat of summer bearing down on us, finding an excuse to stay inside and away from the sun, the mosquitos and the seasonal allergies can be a welcome blessing. Of course, there is no better way to waste away the limited days of Canadian summer than video games, and what better games to… Continue reading Northern Sprites: Five amazing Canadian video games
By Sean Willett
For me, the morning of June 20 seemed like any other. My house was as dry as it usually is, I was able to travel downtown without much trouble and I had managed to stay far enough away from the river that I remained oblivious to the impending disaster. I only realized something was wrong… Continue reading Northern Sprites: How Twitter has changed natural disasters
By Sean Willett
Women are vastly underrepresented in the tech industry, making up only about 25 per cent of the information and communications technology employees in Canada — even though over half of the country’s workforce are women. This disparity has been noted by The Chic Geek, a new Calgarian organization that aims to increase the number of… Continue reading Northern Sprites: The real problem with women in tech