Month: March 2022

Enlarge / Josh Wardle speaks at the 2022 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco about his gaming sensation Wordle. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

SAN FRANCISCO—Josh Wardle, creator of the game Wordle, arguably holds a world record for the fastest sale of a massive new game the instant it became a worldwide phenomenon.

Hence, his presentation at the 2022 Game Developers Conference has a different flair than the usual "post-mortem" dissection of a finished game. His presentation has plenty to dissect, including the "low seven figures" deal that saw him sell the whole thing to The New York Times at the end of January. But in addition to questions about how Wordle was born, Wardle seems aware of the unspoken question on everyone's mind: Why would you move on just as the game took off?

Answering both of those questions, to some extent, requires appreciating that the Times had been in Wardle's mind well before Wordle joined its family.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

So you've heard about mechanical keyboards and you want to learn more.

Sure, a standard membrane keyboard will get the job done, but the long-lasting keys and trademark tactile responsiveness of mechanical keyboards offer a premium experience that many people swear by. If you've ever remarked with dismay about a keyboard's "mushiness," a mechanical keyboard might be just the thing you need.

Every key in a mechanical keyboard has its own switch, and registering an input requires pushing a plastic stem inside the switch down, with resistance coming from the switch’s spring. In contrast, membrane keyboards (also known as rubber dome keyboards) use thin layers of plastic underneath the keys. Pressing a key sends a dome-shaped piece through a hole in the membrane, creating a circuit and sending an input to the PC. While membrane keyboards are typically thinner, quieter, more spill-resistant, and cheaper to make, they can feel flat and make it difficult to know if you’ve pressed a key or not. Mechanical switches offer way more physical feedback.

Enlarge / Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—collectively known as Daniels—are the directors of the new sci-fi action/dramedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh. (credit: A24)

The incomparable Michelle Yeoh plays a harried Chinese American laundromat owner facing an IRS audit in the new science fiction action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. Evelyn Wang is just trying to sift through a mountain of paperwork and crumpled receipts to keep her life from falling apart when she unexpectedly gets pulled into an epic battle across multiple timelines. And the stakes couldn't be higher: the very survival of the entire multiverse is on the line.

Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—collectively known as Daniels—are known for their ability to straddle genres, deftly blending comic absurdity and outré weirdness with moments of gut-wrenching poignancy. Everything Everywhere All at Once is only their second feature film together, but you'd never know it by the assured hand Daniels brought to bear on the project, somehow bringing a chaotic jumble of disparate elements together into a coherent whole that both surprises and delights. The two creators said they found inspiration while they were writing the script in classic kung-fu films, as well as The Matrix and Fight Club.

"I fell in love with those movies," Kwan said. "I was like, man, if I could just make something half as fun as The Matrix, but with our own stamp and our spirits, I would just die happy."