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 ]
Books in schools and libraries increasingly have targets on their spines. The more partisan the battle has become, the more it manifests as a power struggle, rather than an effort to best serve children. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2022-02-09 18:11:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Steam Deck, Valve’s take on a Switch-style portable PC gaming machine, is perhaps the most anticipated piece of portable hardware since…well, since the Nintendo Switch. So it’s understandable that the technology press is champing at the bit to devour every detail about it, even well before... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-02-09 18:09:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Steam Deck, Valve’s take on a Switch-style portable PC gaming machine, is perhaps the most anticipated piece of portable hardware since…well, since the Nintendo Switch. So it’s understandable that the technology press is champing at the bit to devour every detail about it, even well before... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-02-08 14:47:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Annual investment doubles as production industry races to replenish libraries depleted by the pandemicThe UK film and TV industry has bounced back spectacularly from the pandemic with a record £5.6bn spent making blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 7 and big-budget dramas including... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-02-04 13:52:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Libraries can celebrate BHM with displays, events, and more — but it won't mean much if the library isn't a safe place for Black people. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-02-03 11:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Robert Dawson’s The Public Library: A Photographic Essay is a visual love letter to libraries and a testament to the power of reading. The post Our Love for Libraries Told in Photographs appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-01-28 21:30:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new, highly concerning entry in the wave of classroom book bans sweeping the nation: Gene McGee, mayor of Ridgeland, Mississippi, is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System—funding already approved by the board of aldermen—until librarians remove “homosexual... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-28 17:52:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Arts Council England (ACE) has partnered with groups across the country to launch the Green Libraries programme to help libraries address their environmental impact. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-27 00:42:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The pandemic is showing the holes in social safety nets across the U.S., but public libraries aren't the answer to those problems. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-12 11:42:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Leading library service provider OverDrive this week reported that a total of 121 public libraries and consortia across seven countries and from 37 U.S. states surpassed one million digital lends in 2021, a significant jump from 2020, when 102 libraries hit the mark. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The #FReadom campaign is asking you to write your school board with provided templates to support school libraries and access to information. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-04 11:39:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has welcomed the decision by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to veto a bill that would have forced publishers and authors to grant e-book licences to libraries under state-imposed terms. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-31 06:31:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Free Little Libraries are delightful to find but some creators take them to a new level. Here are eight unique free little libraries. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-12-30 11:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With modern consoles offering gamers graphics so photorealistic that they blur the line between CGI and reality, it's easy forget just how cartoonishly blocky they were in the 8-bit era. In his new book, Creating Q*Bert and Other Classic Arcade Games, legendary game designer and programmer... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-12-25 16:30:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Have you ever looked at your mouse and thought "it's fine, but kind of a big fat waste of space?" Gaming accessory company XPG apparently did, because it's just unveiled a concept mouse for CES 2022 with a built-in high-speed SSD drive stuffed inside, Digital Trends has reported. The XPG Vault... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-12-24 21:00:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Here are the titles most frequently checked out from U.S. libraries in 2021, including fiction, nonfiction, and children's books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-12-22 14:45:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
‘What is the hope for gig workers who are underpaid and exploited? Cities, in a way. Cities can have a chance to intervene and actually get things done.’ In the Italian city of Bologna, bicycle couriers delivery bread, freshly baked at local bakeries, to nearby businesses every morning. The same... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-12-12 05:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The AAP filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop Maryland's library e-book law for taking effect January 1 and also disclosed that it was one of more than 20 organizations to sign a letter to New York governor Kathy Hochul urging her to veto a similar bill. Both pieces of legislation require... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
This is the first of 1,000 of Reginald Dwayne Betts's planned Freedom Libraries to be installed in prisons across the U.S. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-12-08 15:07:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Announcing its acquisition of Knowledge Unlatched, Wiley stresses the need to simplify open-access transactions for both libraries and publishers. The post Open Access: Germany’s Knowledge Unlatched Acquired by Wiley appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-12-03 04:15:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this