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439 lines
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[1] Skip to Main Content
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[2] Viget
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Featured
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[22]
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Read the Article: First Impressions of the Dia AI Browser
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Newsletter
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First Impressions of the Dia AI Browser
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[23]
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Read the Article: Big Prompts & Beagle Power: How We Built an AI Language App
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in 24 Hours
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Article
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Big Prompts & Beagle Power: How We Built an AI Language App in 24 Hours
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Pointless Lessons: How We Built Scooter Commuter
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYW]
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• [24]Home
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• [25]Articles
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• [26]Pointless Lessons: How We Built Scooter Commuter
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[27] Subscribe (opens in a new window)
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Share
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• [29] Share this page
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• [30] Share this page
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• [31] Post this page
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[32]Bre Corn, Business Operations Associate,
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[33]Jackie Yu, Senior Product Designer,
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[34]Abby Smith, Product Designer,
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[35]Sadie Finn, Project Manager, and
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[36]Claire Atwell Eisinger, Product Management Director
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Article Categories: [37] #Code, [38] #News & Culture
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Posted on February 24, 2026
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• [39]
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Share
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• [40]
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Share
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• [41]
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Post
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Scooter Commuter is a game that makes the invisible commute visible again. It
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helps remote workers mentally “arrive” at work while creating space for
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boundaries and wellness.
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S c o o t e r C o m m u t e r i s a g a m e t h a t m a k e s t h e i n v i s i
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b l e c o m m u t e v i s i b l e a g a i n . I t h e l p s r e m o t e w o r k
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e r s m e n t a l l y “ a r r i v e ” a t w o r k w h i l e c r e a t i n g s p
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a c e f o r b o u n d a r i e s a n d w e l l n e s s .
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Remote work removed the need for a commute and allowed people to clock-in from
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anywhere, but it also blurred the boundaries between work and home life. For
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employees craving a separation, [42]Abby Smith’s idea of Scooter Commuter is
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the answer.
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Abby pitched the idea of creating a ritual that makes the invisible commute
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visible by simulating the feeling of waking up, taking a yoga class, getting
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ready, grabbing a coffee, and commuting to the office while never leaving your
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house. [43]Claire Atwell Eisinger, [44]Jackie Yu, [45]Sadie Finn, and [46]Bre
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Corn joined the team and helped make the game come to life in 48 hours for our
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annual hackathon, [47]Pointless Palooza. In this short time we went from idea
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to innovation as we explored new skills and tested new tools.
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Scooter Commuter is a lightweight game played in the browser and designed to
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help remote workers mentally transition into their workday. Players move
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through a series of small, playful moments which creates the mood for
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intention, boundaries, and a healthier start to the day.
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Game Inspiration
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Before building, we tested some popular, nostalgic, and niche games to see what
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game style and elements we wanted to incorporate in Scooter Commuter.
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• [48]Pac Man
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• [49]Daily Dungeon
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• [50]NYT Wordle
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We discussed core elements that make these games exciting for us to play and
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that we wanted to nail in our own project. These were our top 10:
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1. Clear and simple rules
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2. Meaningful user choices
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3. A reasonable challenge curve
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4. Consistent feedback loops
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5. Intrinsic motivation
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6. Accessibility
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7. Curiosity gaps
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8. Social connection & [S:competition:S]
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9. Visual clarity
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10. Reactive controls
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Brainstorming
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After nailing down our inspiration and requirements, we got to work on
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visualizing our ideas. We created shared [51]Notion and [52]Whimsical
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workspaces to individually think through our ideas before collectively deciding
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on a direction.
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Sadie leveled up our conceptual Viget inspired commute by suggesting we help
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players jump start their day by using the game to prompt players in real life.
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They are encouraged to grab snacks, do sun salutations, hydrate, get dressed,
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and turn on their favorite playlist.
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Creating
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With a solid idea, guidelines, and benchmarks, we got started bringing this
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idea to life. We created a version plan of the game that would lead to the best
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results before the deadline.
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Abby completed the heavy lift of developing the entire game. She took a crash
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course on [53]Phaser, handled repository setup, and refactored a 1000-line code
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base to help our vision come to life. Claire took on the work of not only
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containing this project but literally containing the game by converting the
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wall system from rectangles to individual tiles, using Copilot.
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Their work resulted in a final tech stack of: JS / React, Phaser.js, and
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Vercel.
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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Sadie, Bre and Jackie handled game design, pixel visual elements,
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documentation, and concept definition. We collaborated in Figma and Notion to
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asynchronously coordinate on the activity prompts, room design, character
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aesthetics, and splash screens that helped bring the game to life.
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The 48-hour hackathon was a huge success. Palooza culminates in a company-wide
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work showcase, and we're proud to say the idea resonated with many of our
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peers.
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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The Scooter Commuter build doesn't stop here. The team has plans to add a more
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complex map, additional playable characters, and maybe even a leaderboard to
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track your daily score. Go check out [54]Scooter Commuter before you start your
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next work day and read some takeaways from the team!
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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Takeaways
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[55]Abby: Don't let your AI work in one file. Force it to do file structuring
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based on functionality as it works ... or else face the consequences.
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[56]Bre: Constraints push the limits, breed creativity, and force me to be
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realistic about what I can and learn in 48 hours. With a great team supporting
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you, it can be a lot!
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[57]Claire: It’s fun to solve hard problems with smart people.
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[58]Jackie: Figma has its limits. I have never approached them before, but it
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can do a lot more than I thought, especially in the visual graphic space
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compared to the UI space that I usually work in.
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[59]Sadie: Share your ideas, even if you think they're bad! I almost deleted my
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idea because it was a different direction than we had initially talked about,
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but it ended up resonating the team and we transformed it to make something
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super cool!
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[60] Bre Corn
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[61]Bre is our Business Operations Associate working from our Chattanooga, TN
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office. She’s fueled by lists — color-coded, alphabetized, and occasionally
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decorated with unnecessary stickers.
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[62]More articles by Bre
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[63] Jackie Yu
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[64]Jackie is a senior product designer from Seattle. She makes things that
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empower people by blending aesthetics, accessibility, and data.
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[65]More articles by Jackie
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[66] Abby Smith
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[67]Abby is a Product Designer based in Boulder, Colorado. She brings a
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Computer Science edge to problem-solving, focusing on empathy, clarity, and
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good communication.
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[68]More articles by Abby
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[69] Sadie Finn
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[70]Sadie is a Project Manager in Falls Church, VA. She is passionate about the
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intersection of technology, design, and people.
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[71]More articles by Sadie
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[72] Claire Atwell Eisinger
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[73]Claire combines her natural people and planning proclivities to manage
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client projects in our Durham, NC, office. She works with clients including
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iContact, Research Affiliates, AECOM and The Atlantic Philanthropies.
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[74]More articles by Claire
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Related Articles
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• [75]
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Big Prompts & Beagle Power: How We Built an AI Language App in 24 Hours
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Article
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Big Prompts & Beagle Power: How We Built an AI Language App in 24 Hours
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Laura Lighty
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• [76]
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Labshares: Internal Talks that Build Skills, Connection, and Culture
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Article
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Labshares: Internal Talks that Build Skills, Connection, and Culture
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Brian Williams
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• [77]
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Building Pointless FLF
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Article
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Building Pointless FLF
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Solomon Hawk
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The Viget Newsletter
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Nobody likes popups, so we waited until now to recommend our newsletter,
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featuring thoughts, opinions, and tools for building a better digital world.
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[78]Read the current issue.
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References:
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[1] https://www.viget.com/articles/pointless-lessons-how-we-built-scooter-commuter#content
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[2] https://www.viget.com/
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[3] https://www.viget.com/work/
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[19] https://pointlesscorp.com/
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[20] https://explorations.viget.com/
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[21] https://code.viget.com/
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[22] https://mailchi.mp/c911a991155d/first-impressions-of-the-dia-ai-browser
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[23] https://www.viget.com/articles/big-prompts-beagle-power-how-we-built-an-ai-language-app-in-24-hours/
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[24] https://www.viget.com/
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[25] https://www.viget.com/articles
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[27] http://eepurl.com/gtHqsj
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[35] https://www.viget.com/about/team/sfinn/
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[36] https://www.viget.com/about/team/catwell/
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[42] https://www.viget.com/about/team/asmith
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[44] https://www.viget.com/about/team/jyu
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[45] https://www.viget.com/about/team/sfinn
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[46] https://www.viget.com/about/team/bcorn
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[47] https://www.viget.com/articles/the-enduring-point-of-pointless-corp/
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[48] https://freepacman.org/
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[58] https://www.viget.com/about/team/jyu
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[59] https://www.viget.com/about/team/sfinn
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[63] https://www.viget.com/about/team/jyu/
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[64] https://www.viget.com/about/team/jyu/
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[66] https://www.viget.com/about/team/asmith/
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[67] https://www.viget.com/about/team/asmith/
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[68] https://www.viget.com/about/team/asmith/
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[69] https://www.viget.com/about/team/sfinn/
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[70] https://www.viget.com/about/team/sfinn/
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[72] https://www.viget.com/about/team/catwell/
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[77] https://www.viget.com/articles/building-pointless-flf/
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[78] https://www.viget.com/newsletter
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