Have you ever bought an app or game from a digital storefront, only for it to suddenly disappear and become inaccessible without warning? It’s both confusing and frustrating, which is why some governments are stepping in and hoping to make things clearer for consumers. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, recently signed a new law (AB 2426) that involves the purchasing of digital goods and services. Under the new law, online storefronts that sell digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows, and ebooks must be explicit as to whether customers actually own what they’re purchasing. Some digital services are already adapting to the new regulations, which aren’t set to be enforced until next year. Steam is one such company, having already implemented a change in the Steam storefront that explicitly notifies customers that they’re purchasing “a license for the product on Steam” and don’t actually own the game outright. What does that mean for you? Well, a license is just permission for you to access content that’s provided by the service (i.e., the game). If the content is made unavailable for whatever reason, you aren’t entitled to access in perpetuity. (As opposed to buying a digital download, in which case you’re buying permission to download and keep said files.) According to Engadget, this new wording in Steam is used in all countries and territories, not just the United States. Further reading: Why digital games can vanish in a heartbeat Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2024-10-11 19:19:30 UTC ]
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The Hunger Games books and films come to fill a psychic void left by the Twilight series. For whatever reason, it seems our culture right now needs a mega-selling YA franchise built around a beautiful, stubborn teen heroine who waffles endlessly between two inexplicably patient lovers as she... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Livefyre, a real-time social conversation and curation platform, announced it has acquired Realtidbits, a 6-year-old provider of real-time commenting and analytics services to online publishers including The CW Network, Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones Local Media Group. Livefyre’s primary... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the world of online publishing, traffic means little in and of itself. That fact is often overlooked by some in the digital media world. The post The Downside of Digital Media’s Scale Fetish appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon has launched its own digital currency for apps and games in the UK, six months after the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Glam Media, one of the largest digital media companies, has hired magazine publishing veteran Dan Lagani as its first president and chief revenue officer, the company is expected to announce Tuesday. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post with his spare pocket change earlier this year, I took a look at the growth of the digital publishing industry here in the Seattle area. Booktrope, a digital publishing startup based here in Seattle, was one of the companies I chatted with... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Calling J.J. Watt a "freak" to his face is probably not a good idea, but Gatorade decided to chance it.Football and comic books go together like chocolate and, er, pumpkin bread--they're not a bad combination, but we don't see them put together very often. The on-field heroics of stars like... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher of Heat says The Debrief will have aggregated news and sex advice for connected, influential readersBauer Media is the latest mainstream UK publisher to jump on the social mobile bandwagon, unveiling plans for The Debrief, a multiplatform digital brand aimed at "constantly connected,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Suzanne Collins says she 'sort of completed' a goal of hers this fall by releasing her children's book 'Year of the Jungle,' which examines war from a child's point of view. Collins wants to write a book about war for every child age group, she says. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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No one expected publishing companies’ digital revenue to catch up to print overnight, but what does it say when that revenue stream at The New York Times Co., Tribune Co. and Time Inc. is already declining? All said so in their most rec ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This summer a judge ruled that Apple arranged a conspiracy with major publishers to raise ebook prices. Now Apple faces a class action lawsuit from plaintiff states and a consumer class. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With one of Slovenia's two major publishing conglomerates up for auction, the industry fears the worst; readers, meanwhile, have rallied around a surprise bestseller. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Choc Lit has acquired a novel which was shortlisted for HarperCollins People’s Novelist of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Though its headquarters building rises 46 stories over Central Park, and though its biggest magazine franchise, Cosmopolitan, sells more than a million copies on newsstands every month, Hearst Corp. is still, in some ways, little known to the general public. Certainly few people would guess that... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US Circuit Judge Denny Chin says Google Books falls under fair use, while the Authors Guild calls it copyright infringement. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite the growth of online bookselling and a 7X increase in the number of ebooks, Argentina's 2,256 bookstores are still responsible for 80% of annual book sales. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ross Levinsohn, CEO of Guggenheim Digital Media, publisher of Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, is on the growing list of industry executives set to speak at the inaugural 2014 Digital Entertainment World conference in Los Angeles. The global marketplace and conference, which is... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New community may come from a publisher, but it's starting with digital media rather than books. By Stuart DredgeStuart Dredge Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At Berlin's E:PUBLISH conference last week, one felt German publishing had finally fully embraced digital as a means of helping the industry and literature thrive. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Intel on Friday said it bought Kno, a startup that helps educational publishers make their books interactive. No price was announced for the Santa Clara company led by CEO Osman Rashid. It had raised more than $73 million dollars, including a $37.3 million round in 2011 led by Intel... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2013-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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