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 ]
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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Just as Engadget was hitting publish on its first posts, I was putting a freshly minted English degree to use working at an indie bookshop in Los Angeles. In seemingly unrelated news, Amazon had just reported its first profitable year after switching from selling books to selling “everything”... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-08 14:15:57 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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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... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-04 16:30:21 UTC ]
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It’s 1995, and I’m trying to watch a video on the internet. I entered the longest, most complex URL I’d ever seen into AOL’s web browser to view a trailer for Paul W.S. Anderson’s long-awaited film adaptation of Mortal Kombat. I found it in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, tucked away in... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-03-01 17:00:14 UTC ]
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Minnesota's HF 3782 would not only aim to end book bans in public schools and libraries but would emphasize the knowledge, training, and expertise of librarians. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-02-29 14:32:52 UTC ]
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The Many Worlds of Anna May Wong: A Conversation with Katie Gee Salisbury, by Susan Blumberg-Kason Interviews [email protected] Wed, 02/21/2024 - 15:24 Katie Gee Salisbury first came across Anna May Wong when she was doing a college internship and... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-02-21 21:24:15 UTC ]
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Some Wyze camera owners have reported that they were suddenly given access to cameras that weren't theirs and even got notifications for events inside other people's homes. Wyze cofounder David Crosby has confirmed the issue to The Verge, telling the publications that "some users were able to... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-02-17 14:00:59 UTC ]
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Challenges cited allegations of racism and hatred, as well as supposedly inaccurate or age-inappropriate content, but all were rejected. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2024-02-10 09:00:00 UTC ]
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The popular anime streaming service is merging with Crunchyroll. When it does, not all purchased TVs and shows will make the jump. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2024-02-09 21:37:00 UTC ]
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Thanks to algorithms, our digital worlds are created for us, not by us. As a result, libraries are seen by some as scary because they reach an entire community—not just an individual. That, plus this week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-02-09 12:30:00 UTC ]
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The Raspberry Pi dominated the maker scene for a decade. Supply chain problems then brought the high flying to an end. With the Raspberry Pi 5, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is now attempting to break free. The new Raspberry Pi 5 model is two to three times faster than its predecessors.... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-02-07 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Librarians and Archivists with Palestine—a network of information workers in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination—yesterday released a report detailing the archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza that have been destroyed, damaged, or looted by Israeli armed forces... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-06 17:22:05 UTC ]
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Free operating systems based on the Linux operating system kernel invented and published by Linus Torvalds are now a serious alternative to Windows, not least due to the wide range of open source software on offer. We reveal the six most ingenious free applications under Linux, which... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-02-01 14:00:00 UTC ]
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The American Booksellers Association has established a partnership with Columbia University Libraries to house its archives at the university's rare book and manuscript library. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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