Here’s the situation: you bought a new computer to game on at Best Buy by Highway 19. You stopped for a burger to-go at Five Guys in Clearwater Mall for a legendary night and dinner.

And after the meal, you fire up the game and prepare to lay waste to the new, inexperienced players around you. A power fantasy for the ages.

Then, five minutes later, someone glitches through a wall and shoots you in the back with computer-assisted aim.

Yeah, Blizzard is not going to let that last part happen anymore. Not on its watch.

In a marketing move to reassure, Blizzard Entertainment proclaimed that the new intellectual property they are releasing called Overwatch will have a zero tolerance policy regarding anyone found cheating.

The penalty is a permanent ban for the account - a total block out of usage for that person.

And though this may sound extreme, cheating of this kind is commonplace in many shooters. Older Call of Duty games definitely have this as a problem. And it can be a deal-breaker for players to know that no matter how good they are, a cheater can ruin their day and game.

So it’s sound marketing. Reassuring the audience that this new product is going to be free of the old problem.

Which is important, because the game market is so saturated, that the smallest annoyance can send a consumer skittering to a new product.

And with the sheer size of promotional ads, beta gameplay, and other marketing going into getting people playing Overwatch when it releases on May 24, Blizzard is not going to let something as basic as a random cheater get in the way of its success.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.

Healthy living is an often complex and difficult thing to go for in this country. Everywhere you turn, what was good is deadly, and this new drug will cure everything—except its side effects contain the thing it’s supposed to fix.

And in that landscape, well, I’ve dealt with my own problems. Some I will not go into, but I had room to improve. Especially in the weight category.

I searched. I tried places. Some of them not for me, others too expensive for my income. But eventually, I found a tiny nutritional clinic in the middle of Clearwater. Sitting on N.E. Cleveland Street and called The Natural Health Improvement Center.

That was about five months ago.

I’ve lost over thirty pounds since then.

Now, I see the skeptics online. I know how much people doubt the validity of things like holistic medicine and muscle testing. But, yet again, thirty pounds.

And the process wasn’t nearly as hard as it seemed when I started. It wasn’t a fad diet, or experimental food stuff. It was a simple, slow integration of informed choices regarding diet, along with supplements, and exercise.

And I haven’t felt this good in a long time. Before, I didn’t think it was possible. Now, I don’t worry about my health much at all.

That peace of mind is worth it all by itself.

I’m so glad I found them. This little place. Staffed by individuals that supported me through it all. Never got mad at me. Became cheerleaders for me. Just as happy—possibly more—as I was with the victories I achieved.

So, if you’re tired of whatever health problems bother you, and the drugs of the modern day are getting you down and not helping, go check them out.  

I think you can get the body state you want. And I think they can help you get there.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.

Has this ever happened to you: A post says it contains both information that seems interesting and its picture is of an attractive person? But once you click on it, you are inundated by ads, and the article you wanted to read is broken up into several slow loading pages?

Well, I’m sorry to say, you fell prey to the much hated “clickbait.”  

Urban Dictionary defines it as such:

An eye-catching link on a website which encourages people to read on. It is often paid for by the advertiser ("Paid" click bait) or generates income based on the number of clicks.

It exists for a reason, though. And that is because we live in a world where the sheer bulk of available information and entertainment is at such an excess, that one method of marketing is simply to draw the eye.

The “truth may shock you.”

On this list “number four may change the way you live your life.”

It’s desperate marketing, but marketing all the same. Doesn’t matter what it is, doesn’t matter if it’s location specific: “Clearwater citizens are shocked by this new law.” Clickbait fits well, and is interchangeable for anywhere it needs to be.

And I’m not here to bemoan or claim this is some greater sign of something worse. It’s just sensationalism, like what newspapers do.

But I hope this article--at least a little--helps you spot the most egregious examples, because they will only become more commonplace.

If the cover is provocative, or if it promises a revelation from its contents, just know what you’re getting into is possibly pure clickbait.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.

Now, I’m all for the consumption of media. It’s the consumption of art. Exploring other’s creative endeavors. This article is a piece of media. But, I am still a tad concerned about the commonplace acceptance of “the binge”.

First made (to my knowledge) into a legitimate thing one plans to do, with significant others even, by Netflix. “The binge” is a socially accepted activity of essentially lounging.

But, yeah, I get it, life can be hard, and it’s understandable that it’s a form of stress release. People all over Clearwater, and Pinellas county—you know who you are—and all over the rest of the world sometimes just like to sink into their couch and let an entire season of Daredevil (for example) wash over them.

But here’s where things get weird, with Amazon’s new advertising hashtag:

#Showhole.

An apparently terrible affliction where one is without an entire television series to view. Comparable to being sucked into a couch, or left in the rain.

And advertising wants to cling onto things like this. Take the commonplace and turn it into a catch phrase or a phenomenon. It’s a good practice, it really is.

But it’s still weird that they are willing to take so much energy to get people to sit and watch a lot of television.

In fact, I feel like there’s more to it than the usual desire for sales.

I feel like the promotion of their binging is almost an attack. A declaration of there’s no need to use other services like Netflix or YouTube.

It’s an advertising rivalry, is what I’m saying. Like Cortana and Siri. And us citizens of Clearwater are some of the prizes being fought for.

And well, that’s not a bad thing. It’s healthy competition. It makes prices lower. Quality higher. But it’s still silly to equate a hole to a lack of shows.

Though, it is a good pun.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.

I fought it. I ignored it. The pop-ups were constant, but I always walked away. I always told them to remind me another day. The price of a bad operating system I would not pay!

Windows 8 had already burned me. And I didn’t feel like going through it again. But it seemed to just update regardless of how I felt. Maybe I clicked something. But I don’t think so.

And lo and behold, I had Windows 10.

But you know, now that I have it, I’m seeing how the marketing for it was right. It is cool. Or at least one feature is.

“Hey Cortana, how’s it going?”

“Excellent.”

Oh yes, with the wizardry of a computer in Star Trek, I can just talk to my laptop and she recognizes my voice. I don’t even have to click anything. I know other programs can do the same, but it’s still cool to see it on a laptop.

Now, I grew enamored with Siri when I first met her, as I’m sure a lot of people did. A program that could do things for me with a word was amazing. And over time I’ve grown used to her and send off texts with her all the time. I almost don’t open the phone app anymore.

But is Cortana just Siri? I don’t know. Let me ask her.

“Hey Cortana, are you Siri?”

“Surely you’re not Siri-ous.”

Well, there you have it. The main positive difference I’ve noticed so far is that she has a much more human sounding voice. She can sing songs and tell stories with a proper inflection and tonal shifts.

She really is what they marketed her as: a new A.I. competitor. And well, I guess I’m a fan. Not to a Her level. Not take her on walks at Clearwater Beach levels. But a fan all the same.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com.