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A cover story in Wired explores the current embrace of the snacky, one-minute entertainment in pop culture, found in everything from movies and TV to video games and songs.

"Music, television, games, movies, fashion: We now devour our pop culture the same way we enjoy candy and chips - in conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets made to be munched easily with increased frequency and maximum speed. This is snack culture - and boy, is it tasty (not to mention addictive)," writes Wired.

Media snacking, as Wired calls it, has invaded every facet of our daily lives:

In the morning, we check news and tap out emails on laptops. At work we graze all day on videos and blogs. Back home, the giant HDTV is for 10-course feasting - say, an entire season of 24. In between are the morsels that fill those whenever minutes, as your mobile phone carrier calls them: a 30-second game on your Nintendo DS, a 60-second webisode on your cell, a three-minute podcast on your MP3 player.