California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 2426, a new law that requires digital marketplaces to make clearer to customers when they are only purchasing a license to access media. The law will not apply to cases of permanent offline downloads, only to the all-too-common situation of buying digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows or ebooks from an online storefront. The Verge spotted the development, which could see marketplaces facing fines for false advertising in the state if they don't use clear language to explain the limitations of what access entails. In other words, you won't be seeing language like "buy" or "purchase" once the law takes effect in 2025. The move to digital storefronts has raised new parallel concerns about ownership and preservation for media in the modern age. Ubisoft's move to delete The Crew from players' libraries after the game's servers shuttered is one of the most recent examples of how customers can suddenly lose access to media they felt they owned. The new California law won't stop situations like The Crew's disappearance from happening, and it won't stop those losses from hurting. But it does make clearer that ownership is a pretty rare and intangible thing for digital media. Governor Newsom is having a busy week. He also signed the state's "click to cancel" bill yesterday and last week signed two bills with protections against unwanted AI likenesses of actors, both living and deceased.This article originally appeared... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-09-26 20:30:54 UTC ]
Another year, another record: OverDrive reps reported this week that 152 libraries around the world reached million-checkout milestone last year, including 23 first-timers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Connect with book lovers all over the world by following 17 of the best bookstores and libraries on TikTok. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-09 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The data supports the work of libraries and library workers far more than it doesn't. That, plus this week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-05 11:40:00 UTC ]
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By reusing and repurposing existing writing into viral fragments on Twitter, the account functioned like today’s chatbots. The Guardian spoke to Jacob Bakkila, the human behind the accountMore than a decade before an AI-powered chatbot could do your homework, help you make dinner or pass the bar... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-03 15:00:04 UTC ]
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Handheld gaming systems are having a moment. While gaming on the go has been a thing since the Game Boy, the success of the Nintendo Switch and a string of ever-improving processors have brought an eruption of devices that let you play all sorts of games anywhere you want. Because new models... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-12-22 15:00:18 UTC ]
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Bless me, Gaben, for I have sinned. In a moment of weakness I turned off the adult content filters in my Steam search, and now my game library has been tainted by the shame of tender, undulating flesh rendered in Unreal Engine. But fear not, fellow naughty gamers: Steam will soon let you... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-12-21 15:29:02 UTC ]
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95% of parents believe every school should have a library, but 60% also believe those libraries should have restrictions. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-20 13:21:21 UTC ]
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As a precocious teen looking to improve my college application, I sat in on a business studies class. I figured taking two extra A-Levels at night school alongside those I took during the day would make me irresistible to admissions tutors. The class I watched examined if it was worth a large... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-12-18 15:30:52 UTC ]
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Governments and outside organizations can do a lot to preserve collections when disaster is looming. Even so, a part of human identity is erased with each library bombed. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-12-12 11:00:34 UTC ]
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Baker & Taylor’s Aman Kochar has embraced the wholesaler’s role as a conduit between libraries and publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Earlier this year, Google announced it would shut down its standalone podcast app in 2024. Since then, the company has started moving podcasts into YouTube and its companion app YouTube Music. As a way to ease the transition, Google will be rolling out a migration tool for its current podcast... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-12-07 19:40:39 UTC ]
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Despite rhetoric from the far right, most parents feel their kids are safe in libraries and that librarians are trustworthy. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-01 11:40:00 UTC ]
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Among the week's headlines: Iowa becomes the next book banning legal battleground; a survey finds that parents still overwhelmingly trust libraries and library workers; and ALA announces Meg Medina as honorary chair of National Library Week 2024. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The campaign by Publishers for Palestine will offer more than 30 free ebooks of poetry, fiction and nonfiction as ‘an act of solidarity’A group of publishers has launched a week-long initiative encouraging people to read books by Palestinian authors and about Palestinian history by offering free... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-29 17:20:38 UTC ]
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When it comes to preserving any type of document in a format that anyone can later open and be sure it looks right, it’s hard to beat the PDF format. PDF, or portable document format, was developed by Adobe in the early 1990s to make it easy to share formatted documents regardless of the... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-11-29 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Publishers for Palestine, a coalition of more than 350 publishers from around the world, is offering more than 30 free ebooks by and about Palestinians as part #ReadPalestine week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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An overwhelming majority of parents and guardians believe librarians are trustworthy and that libraries are safe spaces for children. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-28 15:08:22 UTC ]
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As Cyber Monday begins to wind down, nearly all of the deals are still live on Amazon, so if you've had other stuff going on, you still have time to shop Echos, Kindles, Fire TV sticks and more at a discount. Amazon seems to reserve its best deals for three events: its... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-27 22:18:55 UTC ]
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With Cyber Monday deals have come big savings on all things Amazon. If you’ve been looking to get a new Echo speaker for your home office or pick up a Kindle as a holiday gift, now’s a great time to shop for all of Amazon’s gadgets and gear. For 2023, we’re seeing a new... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-27 14:45:32 UTC ]
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Good things come to those who wait, and if you decided to hold off on buying the Meta Quest 2 when it was discounted by $50 as part of Amazon’s early Black Friday sale, your patience is about to be rewarded. Now that Black Friday has come and gone, not only is the... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-11-25 15:47:52 UTC ]
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