Technabob » trivia

Apple Store 10th Anniversary Poster Loaded with Random Trivia

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:00:53 +0000

I’ve only been in one Apple Store; they aren’t that prolific in my area. The one in Austin, Texas isn’t fancy and I don’t really recall much about it other than it has a lot of MacBooks and geeks running around. Last month Apple celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of its first retail store.

The only thing it really changed to celebrate that anniversary was to move to iPads for the signs in its stores. It did ship out a big poster that was put in the back for workers to read talking about what we it has learned over the years. Some of the stuff is pretty interesting and talks about little things I have never thought of. One of the strange little things was the mention of the metal façade of the building and how to keep it clean:

“Our first store, in Tysons Corner, taught us our first lesson within the first 30 minutes. We had just opened the doors when we noticed the steel already needed polishing. With a special polishing solution. And a special polishing tool. That’s when we learned that blasting steel with virgin sand makes it less prone to scuff marks.

Another fun bit of trivia is about their employee’s t-shirts:

“We’ve found that when we wear black T-shirts, we blend in. And when we wear too many colors it’s confusing. But blue shirts are just right. We’ve also learned that it takes precisely 4,253 stitches to embroider the Apple logo on those blue shirts. And we even figured out which direction the stitches should go in. “

If you want to know what the whole posters says hit the source link below to check it out.

[via MacRumors]

Win Fabulous Fake Prizes With What the?! Trivia [Xbla]

Alisha K. — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:43:47 +0000

Campy, cheap experiences for groups in your living room can sometimes be hard to come by, unless someone is willing to start dancing on the table. But if you’re looking for something a little safer (for your table), a silly new trivia game is available as part of the Xbox Live Community Games lineup.

What The?! isn’t that silly with its questions, but rather with its prizes. Clean up on points and the game-you just might walk away with… a used book! Or a nylon wallet!

Everybody loves a nice toaster.

What The?!, which was just recently released, is available for 400 Microsoft Points. In the end, it’s just simple trivia, but if you’re already the type of person who hoards useless facts, the game’s amusing recreation of old game shows might appeal.

[XLCG via GayGamer]

Playing Madden Makes You Smarter (About Football)

Alisha K. — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:29:01 +0000

There’s been a lot of fuss over the years about the educational content of games, and more recently, as the definition of “gamer” expands and systems like the Nintendo DS are showing up in schools all over the world. But we don’t often hear about the educational potential of regular games. Y’know, the kind we play for fun only and not as fun-hidden-in-brain-exercise. But a recent study at the University of Oregon has revealed that playing the long-running Madden series of football games actually makes you smarter… about football.

Researchers tested Madden players and regular football fans with a series of questions about the sport, and Madden players consistently put up a higher rate of correct answers. The more you play, too, the more you know; a direct correlation was discovered between the amount of time you play Madden and the amount you know about the game of football.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Most Madden players aren’t just sitting on the sofa, watching and yelling about bad calls and following trades between teams. They’ve got to know the ins and outs of strategy and performance if they want to play to win. But it’s nice to know we can brush up on sports trivia without resorting to sitting around with a book on the subject.

[via Team Xbox]