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 ]
Diana Goetsch spent months visiting red-state libraries to do presentations on the freedom to read. Would she be recognized, or clocked as transgender? Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-04-17 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Among the headlines this week: ALA releases the 2024 State of America's Libraries Report; PLA reports strong attendance at its annual conference; and Idaho passes a "harmful to minors" bill. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I suspect many writers spend hours and hours at their local library and, if they’re anything like me, they can often feel like they’re swallowed up in a grandiose, if not downright mythological reservoir of knowledge. I remember living in Los Angeles, going to the Los Angeles Public Library,... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Rakuten has a trio of new Kobo ereaders, including the company’s first two with color displays. On Wednesday, the company revealed the $220 Kobo Libra Colour and $150 Clara Colour alongside the monochrome $130 Clara BW. You can preorder them today, ahead of their April 30 launch. The Kobo Libra... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-10 04:01:53 UTC ]
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The Pretendo Network, an open-source Nintendo Network alternative, no longer requires a hacked Wii U console. With Nintendo’s servers for the obsolete console shutting down on Monday, the Pretendo Network shared a new workaround that provides (limited) access to its homebrew servers without... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-09 19:27:49 UTC ]
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A Louisiana bill would criminalize membership in the American Library Association with fines, jail time, or hard labor. No, this isn't a joke. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-04-03 16:22:38 UTC ]
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The City Council said it has found an additional $6 billion in newly identified city dollars to undo many of Mayor Eric Adams’ spending cuts and make new investments in affordable housing construction and education.Lawmakers on Monday released their official response to the mayor’s $109 billion... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-04-01 17:27:55 UTC ]
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The hearing comes nearly year after administrators in the Mat-Su district, located just north of Anchorage, responded to a handful of parental complaints by pulling 56 titles from school libraries without any formal review. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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It's not easy being green, so the Hulu integration on Disney+ is going teal. Disney announced the launch today of Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S. for Disney bundle subscribers, combining the Disney+ and Hulu libraries in one application. Although each app remains available... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2024-03-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Qualcomm is said to have new Arm-based laptops of its own in the pipeline, while consumer versions of the new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 that run on the Snapdragon X Elite chipset are believed to be on the way. While that in the past would have meant the makers of x86- and x64-based... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-22 15:25:41 UTC ]
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Meditation is often touted as a mental cure-all, purported to help with stress, sleep, mood, focus and even certain medical conditions. I’ve been meditating most of my adult life. I’ve done silent retreats. I’ve been formally trained in various techniques. I’ve had someone in my contacts list... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-22 14:00:47 UTC ]
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Among the week's headlines: ALA is honored by the National Book Critics Circle; the political attacks on libraries in Alabama continue to escalate; and a report on how libraries are bridging the mental health divide in Texas. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In good times or hard times, lawyers always win.Revenues at the top 100 firms rose to $131 billion in 2022, the most recent year available, from $7 billion in 1986, a 19-fold increase, according to American Lawyer. Profit margins never fell below 35% in even the worst years and hit a record 45%... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-03-21 10:03:05 UTC ]
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A shift of focus on libraries to retail channels and an aggressive acquisition of new titles—including, recently, works by John LeCarré and Jon Fosse—led to nearly $30 million in revenue in 2023, a 39% jump for the Ohio-based audiobook publisher. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Barbara Blair is mad as hell about the state of Midtown and isn’t going to take it anymore. “There’s general disorder and mayhem,” the president of the Garment District Alliance said at a Crain’s Power Breakfast Tuesday morning. She noted the unlicensed vendors on the streets, decrepit... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-03-19 18:21:51 UTC ]
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A deep dive into what Carnegie libraries are, what they aren't, and how they attain historic significance. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-03-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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In a release, ALA officials said that 4,240 unique book titles were reported challenged in schools and libraries in 2023, a stunning 65% increase over 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-03-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries across the U.S. are struggling to cover the cost of e-books, which have grown in popularity Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2024-03-12 14:54:40 UTC ]
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Do you, like me, have paper documents that have long since been scanned and processed, records or music cassettes that you would like to listen to on your mobile phone, and photo prints that are planned for a digital photo book? Then you will appreciate the two-step instructions in... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-03-08 14:00:00 UTC ]
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A Llano County librarian who refused to ban books at the direction of the board and county has filed a lawsuit with a firm making a name for themselves protecting libraries nationwide. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-03-05 15:19:15 UTC ]
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