UI vs. Loneliness: Barrage Video (弹幕) and China’s “Empty Nest Youth”

Ideas are mysterious things. Sometimes the worst ones smell like solid gold, sometimes the profit-driving powerhouses masquerade as giant turds. Telling the difference, it seems, takes a certain measure of psychotic genius. Where, for example, is the hazy boundary of brilliance that separates the Slinky from, say, Picnic Pants? Maybe I just have no vision,…

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A Stroll Through China’s Most-used Desktop Login Forms

I presume you’ve used a login form before (no? Hail, and welcome to Earth. We have tacos). And I presume you’re familiar with the basics: you speak “friend” and enter. But China’s login processes, driven by environmental and behavioral factors, are perhaps a little different than what you’re used to. “Factors”, you say? I can’t…

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