Gather ’round, children, and let me tell you a story about the old bugaboo we used to call DRM. Digital Rights Management was the beast under every gamer’s bed in the mid-2000s, an invisible bit of software baked into game discs that dictated and tracked player behavior under the guise of preventing piracy. DRM software, like SecuROM, limited the times a game could be downloaded and forced players to regularly connect to the internet for authentication checks, at a time when less than half of American adults had reliable broadband connections. DRM features soured the releases of BioShock, Mass Effect and Spore, and by 2010, anti-piracy software had rendered Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter-Cell: Conviction unplayable. When Microsoft attempted to release the Xbox One with always-on DRM features in 2013, intense vitriol from fans forced the company to reverse its plans at the 11th hour. There were lawsuits. DRM was a curse word. Meanwhile, Valve was building out Steam. When it landed in 2003, the digital PC storefront was designed to streamline the patch process for games like Counter-Strike and make it easier for Valve to implement anti-piracy and anti-cheat measures. Steam was made to be a DRM machine. In 2004, with the release of Half-Life 2, Valve made Steam a requirement for every player, and even those who’d purchased new, physical copies of the game had to boot up the launcher first. There was some low-level grumbling, but PC players were used to being lab rats, and... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-03-04 16:30:21 UTC ]
Bilingual families, dual-language classes, and libraries serving communities with a large number of Spanish speakers are driving demand for dual-language titles for young readers in the U.S. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nintendo eShop for the Wii U and 3DS game consoles officially closed for business on March 27th, 2023, permanently disabling all new purchases on the platforms. We knew this was coming. Nintendo quietly announced the eShop's closure over a year ago, asserting that it was the "natural life... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-27 14:00:52 UTC ]
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As a comedy about Canadian libraries Shelved is getting compared to Abbott Elementary, Superstore, Parks and Rec, and of course The Office. Its creator, and former writer for The Office, Anthony Q. Farrell is fine with that. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-03-27 08:00:00 UTC ]
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A federal judge has ruled against the Internet Archive in its high-profile case against a group of four US publishers led by Hachette Book Group. Per Reuters, Judge John G. Koeltl declared on Friday the nonprofit had infringed on the group’s copyrights by lending out digitally scanned copies of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-25 16:46:29 UTC ]
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Apple Music users on iOS are highlighting a fairly serious bug that is causing other people's playlists and songs to appear in their libraries, according to multiple Redditors. On top of that, some users have complained that their own playlists have outright disappeared or been replaced by... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-23 10:30:03 UTC ]
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A man so upset by the Pride programming at his local libraries that he felt moved to graffiti “GROOMERS” onto the windows has been charged with possession of child pornography, the Washington Post reports. The man, Charles M. Sutherland, vandalized two branches in Maryland’s Prince George’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-14 15:13:40 UTC ]
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Reading the titles that have been challenged and removed from public-school libraries across the country. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-03-10 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Among the headlines this week: a look at libraries some three years after the Covid-19 pandemic began; how the right wing culture war playing out in many communities has led to some librarians living in fear; the St. Paul Public Library's 'Read Brave' program enters its 10th year; and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Sydney is hosting WorldPride 2023! The celebration began 17 February with some of the best events available at local libraries. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-20 11:39:00 UTC ]
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From big-box stores and schools to banks and gymnasiums, here are some old buildings that were turned into libraries (and bookstores). Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-20 11:38:00 UTC ]
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A celebration of community libraries and their expanding role, and a look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-17 17:56:54 UTC ]
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So many libraries, so little time! As writers and readers, we here at Electric Literature know there’s nothing quite like stepping into a space that has been specifically designed to invoke and perpetuate a love of reading. With book-banning efforts escalating across the country and funding for... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-17 12:05:00 UTC ]
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At a glanceExpert's Rating ProsLight weight and sharp text make for hours of comfortable readingWaterproofBuilt-in OverDrive supportBook management offers many filtering and sorting optionsConsCan only play audiobooks from KoboBattery life not quite as good as on KindleOur VerdictNot only... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-02-16 23:20:00 UTC ]
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Plex now has the capability to skip intros and credits, so you don't have to sit through them if you don't want to. The streaming media service has introduced its new "Skip Credits" feature, a couple of years after a similar feature debuted for intros, and it shows up as a button at the bottom... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-16 12:45:54 UTC ]
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'Invincible' by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley is the story of Mark Grayson, a seemingly normal high school kid who is really the superhero called Invincible. A 10-page excerpt from 'Invincible Compendium One', hardcover reprint edition celebrating the 20th anniversary of Invincible. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Booksellers from The Strand remember the coolest celebrity “cart shark” of them all: Television frontman Tom Verlaine. | Lit Hub Bookstores & Libraries Food as sustenance and political metaphor: How White House dinners shape presidential policy. | Lit Hub Politics “Will this book, like so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-11 11:30:37 UTC ]
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What, and whether, our world leaders read provides crucial insight into their minds and priorities. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2023-02-10 15:44:57 UTC ]
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While Valve’s awesome $399 Steam Deck is a capable enough gaming system out of the box, some of its best features are easy to miss. If you know where to look, you can customize the Steam Deck to your liking, minimize annoyances, and even expand your game catalog well beyond the built-in... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-02-10 12:52:42 UTC ]
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Cloud gaming libraries normally get larger, but Amazon Luna's appears to be shrinking — for now, at least. 9to5Googlenotes that the paid Luna+ tier will lose 53 games in February. Many of these are older or niche titles you won't necessarily miss, but that does mean losing classics like No More... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-06 16:53:46 UTC ]
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The latest game to get the reverse-engineering treatment is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Neowin has reported. A GitHub user called snesrev has fully ported the game to PC using over 80,000 lines of code, while adding some extra enhancements. Those include support for enhanced aspect... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-06 11:55:42 UTC ]
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