Ok point taken. IANAL but I was unaware that all the elements of the game (ie: virtual property) were not considered part of that "first sale". To me it seems dangerous because if those elements are part of first sale, then they're overriding it. I would argue that if they're selling you a game in which the acquisition of virtual items is an inherent and inseparable part of the game, then those items are part of the first sale.
Yes, I know all about First Sale, but that's not the term of the UA that eBay cited in their decision, which was The seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.
There are games (and whatever you want to call "Second Life") that encourage virtual-to-realworld economies. Will eBay differentiate on a per-game basis?
First, this is not flamebait. I think the iPhone looks beautiful and I genuinely adore everything Apple does from a visual perspective.
But...
For all of Apple's design strengths, physical UI is not one of them. I could go into a million examples but take Apple's history of the mouse for one: Sure, Apple pioneered the original mouse. But Apple's desire for minimalism ultimately hurt development. The physically contoured 3 button wheel mouse looks hideously complex compared to all of Apple's designs which have ranged from the "hockey puck" iMac mouse, to the multiple single-button ultra symmetrical designs they've come up with. But truth be told -- I use a 3rd party logitech mouse because its just plain superior in terms of interface.
You can look at the history of Mac keyboards and reach similar conclusions. (Although my clear acrylic keyboard looks sweet, its just not as usable as the 3rd party, uglier, keyboard that I use).
So, back to the iPhone: There's no keyboard. Yes, there'll be an onscreen keyboard. Will this be usable? Will it be as good? No one actually knows yet, but I'm going to have to guess "no" on both counts. Sleek minimalist, symmetrical design is fantastic (and I've always been a big fan of it). But the reality is that human beings aren't sleek, minimalist and symmetrical in their UI needs. We're multi-digited, mono-dextrous creatures with clumsy fat appendages and pre-wired for physical feedback.
Ultimately I think the iPhone is going to be one hell of a sexy device, but I don't think its going to have any place in my life because I "live" on my Blackberry, and its a workhorse. I wish it weren't the case because I'm a sucker for most things Mac in terms of design and aesthetics. But this is about my fingers and my messaging. And, well... neither of those things is terribly sexy.
I was under the impression that the link text was the entire means by which Google created their PageRank algorithm.
Sure, it gets abused with GoogleBombing (although I can't say I really care) but if this changes, doesn't PageRank as a whole change in pretty radical ways?
For years, the patent office was granting patents based upon adding the words "Internet based" to what was otherwise an unoriginal idea.
Education? Not new. "But its on the Internet". Hey! That's new!
There are still literally thousands of patents floating around that were based on this mindless logic, and it still happens today. Just last week, Microsoft patented a "digital means of recording one's life history". One might call it a diary -- or a time capsule, but no this was something new. Why? Because its...wait for it.... "digital".
If I didn't know better I'd say Google was having an increasingly difficult time squeezing out well formed ideas. (And something about this one smells a little off.) It might be because they're just not flushing out the bad ideas, but it also might be an indication that Google needs to unclog their management and wipe themselves clean of this "Testing Grouplet". While it is true that great ideas have plopped out of Google, I think our apparently limitless enthusiasm for anything and everything that spews from Google may have had the effect of loosening up their releases to the point of being soft and formless.
Digital delivery is already here. (I downloaded my first HD movie on my 360 over the weekend). As I see it "on-demand" HD digital delivery is going to make this "format war" seem primitive. The entire concept of digital media burned into plastic already feels last-gen.
Now as soon as someone figures out how to permanently save those digitally delivered HD movie 'rentals' onto external drives -- then things are really going to get crazy.
Why are we pretending this is a big deal? The settlement (in millions) will still be less than the severance package of a top executive. Neither company's reputation is in the least bit tarnished in the public eye, and the whole thing will blow over (in fact, it already has). This isn't politics, its corporate America. Was it pathetic, wrong and lame? Uh, Yeah. You new here?
... and its not disimilar from greylisting from what I can tell, but I don't think its going to be effective in the long term. Getting around this type of filter (or delay) seems relatively simple compared to the task of defeating the bayesian filters over the past couple years.
The lynchpin of greylisting is that legitimate mail will "try again" after being returned by the server, while spam will not. The conclusion (which we hope is true) is that any mail that is not re-sent was in fact spam. Never mind the danger that the assumption could be false and legitimate mail gets lost -- how long will it be before spammers simply "re try" their spam -- or worse -- just send everything twice?
As with any attempt to modify behavior electronically -- behavior usually wins.
"THEMIS Probes" might not sound all that exciting, but its a big upgrade from the old name.
For a long time the sattelites were called the "Aurora National Atmospheric Layer Probes", but the acronym "ANAL Probes" was just too hard to take seriously.
Slashdot Mirror
You can't properly type on a BlackBerry or any other similarly sized device
Huh?
I type all day long on my BBerry.
Meh.
Terms of service... Contractually agreed to by a mouse click from a 12 year old.
eBay is only creating a multi million dollar opportunity for alternate auction sites... the whole thing's moot.
Ok point taken. IANAL but I was unaware that all the elements of the game (ie: virtual property) were not considered part of that "first sale". To me it seems dangerous because if those elements are part of first sale, then they're overriding it. I would argue that if they're selling you a game in which the acquisition of virtual items is an inherent and inseparable part of the game, then those items are part of the first sale.
RTFA before summoning your god next time.
Yes, I know all about First Sale, but that's not the term of the UA that eBay cited in their decision, which was The seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.
The seller must be the owner of the underlying intellectual property, or authorized to distribute it by the intellectual property owner.
So, can I not sell used books, cd's, artwork or games?
Will eBay be shutting down Half.com?
There are games (and whatever you want to call "Second Life") that encourage virtual-to-realworld economies. Will eBay differentiate on a per-game basis?
FYI: http://www.gsmliberty.net/shop/
'Worked for me.
First, this is not flamebait. I think the iPhone looks beautiful and I genuinely
adore everything Apple does from a visual perspective.
But...
For all of Apple's design strengths, physical UI is not one of them. I could go into
a million examples but take Apple's history of the mouse for one: Sure, Apple pioneered
the original mouse. But Apple's desire for minimalism ultimately hurt development. The
physically contoured 3 button wheel mouse looks hideously complex compared to all of Apple's
designs which have ranged from the "hockey puck" iMac mouse, to the multiple single-button
ultra symmetrical designs they've come up with. But truth be told -- I use a 3rd party
logitech mouse because its just plain superior in terms of interface.
You can look at the history of Mac keyboards and reach similar conclusions. (Although my
clear acrylic keyboard looks sweet, its just not as usable as the 3rd party, uglier,
keyboard that I use).
So, back to the iPhone: There's no keyboard. Yes, there'll be an onscreen keyboard. Will
this be usable? Will it be as good? No one actually knows yet, but I'm going to have to
guess "no" on both counts. Sleek minimalist, symmetrical design is fantastic (and I've always
been a big fan of it). But the reality is that human beings aren't sleek, minimalist and
symmetrical in their UI needs. We're multi-digited, mono-dextrous creatures with clumsy
fat appendages and pre-wired for physical feedback.
Ultimately I think the iPhone is going to be one hell of a sexy device, but I don't think
its going to have any place in my life because I "live" on my Blackberry, and its a workhorse.
I wish it weren't the case because I'm a sucker for most things Mac in terms of design
and aesthetics. But this is about my fingers and my messaging. And, well... neither of those
things is terribly sexy.
uptight, much?
IANAL but wouldn't the site owner have some serious legal ammunition against both MySpace and GoDaddy?
This seems to me to be an issue for the courts, not an IT department.
In other words, "We have no backbone. We obey power. You have none. MySpace does. Any questions?"
I was under the impression that the link text was the entire means by which Google
created their PageRank algorithm.
Sure, it gets abused with GoogleBombing (although I can't say I really care) but
if this changes, doesn't PageRank as a whole change in pretty radical ways?
This is slightly OT, but for fans of Catan its big news:
Apparently Xbox Live will be selling an online multiplayer version of the boardgame
this Spring. 'Pretty sweet.
That's not as scary as what's happening to the dollar.
For years, the patent office was granting patents based upon adding the words "Internet based" to what was otherwise an unoriginal idea.
...wait for it.... "digital".
Education? Not new.
"But its on the Internet". Hey! That's new!
There are still literally thousands of patents floating around that were based on this mindless logic, and it still happens today.
Just last week, Microsoft patented a "digital means of recording one's life history". One might call it a diary -- or a time capsule,
but no this was something new. Why? Because its
Sigh.
If I didn't know better I'd say Google was having an increasingly difficult time
squeezing out well formed ideas. (And something about this one smells a little off.) It might
be because they're just not flushing out the bad ideas, but it also might be an
indication that Google needs to unclog their management and wipe themselves clean
of this "Testing Grouplet". While it is true that great ideas have plopped out of Google, I think
our apparently limitless enthusiasm for anything and everything that spews from Google may have had
the effect of loosening up their releases to the point of being soft and formless.
My two cents.
...make that 25 Million...and one.
: p
Mod parent up. That's a great question.
Formats are irrelevant.
Digital delivery is already here. (I downloaded my first HD movie on my 360 over the weekend).
As I see it "on-demand" HD digital delivery is going to make this "format war" seem primitive.
The entire concept of digital media burned into plastic already feels last-gen.
Now as soon as someone figures out how to permanently save those digitally delivered
HD movie 'rentals' onto external drives -- then things are really going to get crazy.
> "but what's interesting is that it allows you to do these tasks from within any program in Windows"
Countdown to "adoption" in Vista: 10, 9, 8, 7...
That makes their handheld killer, the loser.
And that makes their console, the loser.
All this from the company that entered this race pompously telling the world they were the top dog.
It wouldn't be utterly tragic for them if it weren't Nintendo that was kicking their ass. Nintendo
is a tiny, tiny company compared to Sony.
How soon will it be until heads roll at Sony corp?
Why are we pretending this is a big deal? The settlement (in millions) will still be less than the severance package of
a top executive. Neither company's reputation is in the least bit tarnished in the public eye, and the whole thing
will blow over (in fact, it already has). This isn't politics, its corporate America. Was it pathetic, wrong and lame?
Uh, Yeah. You new here?
... and its not disimilar from greylisting from what I can tell, but I don't think its going to be
effective in the long term. Getting around this type of filter (or delay) seems relatively simple
compared to the task of defeating the bayesian filters over the past couple years.
The lynchpin of greylisting is that legitimate mail will "try again" after being returned by the
server, while spam will not. The conclusion (which we hope is true) is that any mail that is
not re-sent was in fact spam. Never mind the danger that the assumption could be false and
legitimate mail gets lost -- how long will it be before spammers simply "re try" their spam --
or worse -- just send everything twice?
As with any attempt to modify behavior electronically -- behavior usually wins.
"THEMIS Probes" might not sound all that exciting, but its a big upgrade from the old name.
For a long time the sattelites were called the "Aurora National Atmospheric Layer Probes", but the acronym
"ANAL Probes" was just too hard to take seriously.