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 ]
More and more public libraries are temporarily closing shop across the country to limit the spread of coronavirus, but their Wi-Fi can still be a valuable resource for communities, the American Library Association said Monday. Libraries that close should leave their Wi-Fi open to the public... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-23 18:01:46 UTC ]
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We're still early in this new coronavirus crisis, but it's not too early to think about what we want—and what we'll need—for our libraries in the future. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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'Write once, run anywhere' was the promise that Sun Microsystems made for Java in the mid '90s. But front-end development trends suggest that it's really JavaScript -- and its fast-evolving libraries and frameworks -- that are executing on that promise today. To learn more about the JavaScript... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2020-03-19 11:48:08 UTC ]
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THESE TIMES: Italy’s answer to coronavirus is a classic published almost 200 years ago · Big-hearted strangers are turning Little Free Libraries into Little Free Pantries · Ina Garten and Samin Nosrat are here to help with your lockdown cooking. | Lit Hub An environmentally ethical argument for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-19 10:30:29 UTC ]
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Are you desperately searching for proof that there is, in fact, still goodness in this crazy, mixed-up, pandemic-cowed world? You are? Well then, might I direct your attention to this Chicago neighborhood street corner? Seen in my Chicago neighborhood. Sign says “To help our neighbors affected... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-18 17:26:32 UTC ]
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Libraries Connected is calling on the government to issue "clear" guidance about closing libraries in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, highlighting "it is equally important that library staff are safeguarded during this period". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 08:33:36 UTC ]
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Macmillan has abandoned its controversial lending policy on e-books for US libraries in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 05:44:27 UTC ]
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The Uncensored Library — Reporters Without Borders built a library in Minecraft, in which you can read banned books. (via Gizmodo) Shmoocon 2020 Talk Recordings — everything from email addresses to Verilog by way of Zero Trust, social media, and choose-your-own-adventure ransomware. Differential... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-03-16 12:07:03 UTC ]
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How one school librarian has addressed fake news in his curriculum -- and how it can be replicated. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-15 10:31:27 UTC ]
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Help build the libraries of schools around the country by donating a few bucks to these DonorsChoose projects. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-13 10:40:37 UTC ]
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This morning, both the Chief Librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library and the President of the New York Public Library released statements announcing that they would be cancelling public library programs for the rest of March, in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 and encourage social... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-12 16:51:47 UTC ]
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I draw, write, speak about, teach, facilitate and organise events about comics. After graduating with a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Sussex, I attended art college and worked as a freelance illustrator. In 2008, I began to incorporate comics into my practice. I also... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-03-11 13:11:13 UTC ]
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The use of libraries for community activities rather than just as a repository for books has led to a fall in their use rather than an increase, according to a new report by campaigner Tim Coates. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 22:33:22 UTC ]
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Quibi, the new short-form video streaming service led by Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, has released a list of 51 shows that will be available when it launches next month. Quibi plans to offer 175 original shows and 8,500 short-form episodes called “quick bites” within its first year. When... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-03-10 11:05:18 UTC ]
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MLflow — an open source platform to manage the ML lifecycle, including experimentation, reproducibility, and deployment. It currently offers three components: tracking, projects, and models. Eventing Facets (Tim Bray) — the word “eventing” makes my skin crawl, but this series of posts has A+... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-03-10 04:01:00 UTC ]
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Simon Savidge has left his role at Liverpool Libraries to take charge of logistics for the BBC’s Novels That Shaped Our World libraries events programme. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-09 06:33:08 UTC ]
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How J. Edgar Hoover used the power of libraries for (gasp!) evil. | Lit Hub History “Mechanical travel blunts our sense of the world.” On the reverie and detachment of the American road trip. | Lit Hub Travel On the magic sentences of Lauren Groff, creating action without verbs. | Lit... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-07 12:30:11 UTC ]
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Adobe has released a new Gmail add-on to make it easier for Creative Cloud users to share their work over email. The plugin allows you to attach synced files, libraries or mobile creations you have stored on your Creative Cloud account as links. Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-03-05 18:10:00 UTC ]
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Once a revered political figure the public looked to for advice on everything from crime to child rearing, J. Edgar Hoover—the former director of the FBI from its inception in 1935 to his death in 1972—is now known as a bigot who abused his power to squash progressive causes and spy on political... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-04 09:48:43 UTC ]
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This week, the ongoing protests in India in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial new citizenship law, which discriminates against Indian Muslims, have intensified and turned violent. But one bright spot is the fact that, as Maroosha Muzaffar reports at Ozy, some volunteers... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-26 16:11:24 UTC ]
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