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 ]
Is there anything you can't find at a library? These 10 scenes from horror movies and TV shows prove that libraries save lives. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-25 10:36:00 UTC ]
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Data scientists working in Python or R typically acquire data by way of REST APIs. Both environments provide libraries that help you make HTTP calls to REST endpoints, then transform JSON responses into dataframes. But that’s never as simple as we’d like. When you’re reading a lot of data from a... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2022-07-19 11:16:39 UTC ]
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We know and love the magic and power of the library and the bookstore. But...what happens when things go sideways in them? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-07-15 10:38:00 UTC ]
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Well, we still have some nice things—or rather, dogs do. While walking through my neighborhood in Missoula recently (a neighborhood that features seven Little Free Libraries for humans, it should be said), I stumbled across a very cute sight: some good Samaritan (by the looks of it, a small one)... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-14 14:30:34 UTC ]
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The 2022 Urban Libraries Unite Trauma Study addresses a "crisis of trauma" in urban public libraries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries from California to North Carolina to Utah to New York have seen their Pride displays challenged or removed this month. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-30 10:41:00 UTC ]
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Many libraries are looking for cataloguing techniques as an alternative to the Dewey Decimal system. Here are a few options. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-22 10:35:00 UTC ]
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It’s a weird year for video games. We’re 19 months into a fresh console cycle and support for the PS4 and Xbox One is finally tapering off as developers shift focus to the PS5, Xbox Series X and PC cloud gaming platforms. The pandemic slowed or paused development on a generation of games, and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-06-20 14:00:16 UTC ]
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Celebrate the The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's 20th anniversary with a whole summer of Eric Carle goodness! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-20 10:39:00 UTC ]
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Five prominent library educators defend the profession’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Microsoft has a lot of news for Xbox owners and Game Pass fans this morning. In an announcement post, the company shared its plans to expand the Xbox app directly to Samsung smart TVs, opening up the streaming platform to players in Argentina and New Zealand. There are also some new... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-06-09 14:47:28 UTC ]
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We’ve said it many, many times before and we’ll say it many, many times again: libraries represent the best of America. Today’s entry: the New York Public Library will give away 500,000 books this summer to help kids, teens, and families build their at-home libraries. In addition to English,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-09 14:17:10 UTC ]
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Stats from 2020-21 reveal that the Pointless presenter’s The Thursday Murder Club is the biggest hit in UK librariesRichard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club was the most borrowed book from UK libraries in the year 2020-21, while the prolific bestseller James Patterson was the most borrowed... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-09 13:22:35 UTC ]
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The movement intends to "empty libraries of LGBTQ content aimed at kids" by checking out and hiding all LGBTQ books on library displays. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-06 13:35:02 UTC ]
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A group of Louisiana libraries block cultural displays, including Pride, Black and Woman's History Month, and others. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-02 22:08:33 UTC ]
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The NFL's rumored streaming service could debut in JulyDyson, the company that’s recently branched out into hair curlers, air-purifying headphones and not cars, has revealed it has an entire division secretly developing robot prototypes for household chores.The company didn't detail any of the... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-05-26 11:15:21 UTC ]
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If you’re about to bite the bullet on a blazing-fast multi-gig internet deal, you might just have to upgrade your PC’s storage drive and CPU too. I know this because besides having to upgrade my networking hardware, which was too slow for my new Sonic 10Gb internet, I discovered that parts... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-05-18 10:45:00 UTC ]
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Available at indies bookstores and local libraries everywhere! * Phil Klay, Uncertain Ground (Penguin Press) “An introspective collection of essays … Klay’s reassuring voice offers truth, hope, and ways forward during a challenging, polarized period in America.” –Booklist Maggie Shipstead, You... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-17 13:43:51 UTC ]
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The Read Harder challenge, library style! These books will help you not just Read Harder, but discover more about libraries and librarians. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-05-16 10:30:00 UTC ]
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When it comes to retro portable gaming, even the better handhelds usually only emulate the original PlayStation and N64 era. But if you’re a fan of the GameCube or PS2 libraries (and you should be), the number of handhelds capable enough, well-made enough and reasonably priced enough is... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-05-13 11:15:33 UTC ]
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