In this video Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka discuss World 1-1, or the very first level in the very first Super Mario Bros. It’s fascinating how every element on the level is designed to introduce you to a mechanic of the game, or how Mario moves and jumps. This is interesting if you like Mario, but also important for any developer in any medium who is thinking about the NUX (new user experience) of their product. I sometimes joke that in WordPress we put people on the boss monster level the first time they enter the dashboard. There have been improvements but still so much to do to naturally introduce people to our interface.

Great talk on analytical HR at Google. Hat tip: Sara.

This custom Mario Maker level, and the skill required to beat it, is one of the craziest feats of Mario virtuoso I’ve seen.

23 hours hours ago, WordPress 4.3 was released. It’s already had 1.6 million downloads and counting. For a look at what’s new in this version you can watch the quick video above, or check out the blog post.

Many of my friends know how obsessed I am with different types of water, from Badoit to Hint Water (yum) to De L’aubier. This definitely hit close to home.

The upside of jet lag, like Om discovering the streets of Paris, are enjoying parts of the day you might not normally be awake for, like a beautiful sun rise. Here’s a time lapse I made of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong taken from the incredible view I have in my room.

“Make good art.”

We did an official ten year post and video.

I really enjoyed this presentation from Andreessen Horowitz on how funding has evolved, and the current tech situation vis a vis the bubble around the turn of the millennium. It’s a pretty strong case for there not being a bubble right now. Go full-screen to be able to read it well.

A great video going underneath the streets of New York, Ninja Turtle Style:

Hat tip: Beau.

An interesting and thoughtful conversation over a cup of tea between two food masters of our time, Jiro Ono and René Redzepi, from the MAD site. (WordPress-powered!)

John Oliver is pretty much always fun to watch, but you should especially send this episode to everyone you know, it’s important for people to see and understand it.

Great talk introducing Grist.org and the state of the environment, including a number of things to be excited about.

https://vimeo.com/118946875

Incredible music (“Take Me To Church” by Hozier), incredible artist (the dancer, Sergei Polunin), and incredible photographer / director (David LaChapelle).

Alain de Botton seems to be behind this fun series of videos that tries to apply philosophy to everyday life. This one I think is particularly important for founders, as I’ve seen many unhappy employees at startups because the founder was fundamentally unhappy because they were doing it for the wrong reasons.

Janelle Monae is always amazing.

In addition to the State of the Word presentation we talked about last week, there was a half hour or so of questions and answers that followed. You can also check it out on WordPress.tv, which now plays everything HD by default.