Game magazines (and professional web news sources) are usually terrible, industry co-opted publications. It's hard to tell legitimate praise from marketing, and criticism is basically nonexistent: exclusive access to early builds of games conditioned by promises of good reviews ruin any possibility of unbiased, critical writing. Gerstmanngate is symptomatic of a lot of what is wrong with professional game press.
But EGM...it had the same problems that plague game magazines, but sometimes very good stuff slipped through the usual crapfest. I also have fond memories of reading EGM when I was growing up, it was my main source of game news and reviews. I can't say the same about Gamepro or other game magazines, which contained writing that even an average kid could tell was poor.
What saddens me most, though, is the demise of the 1up podcasts. By which I mean the demise of 1up Yours, which was very, very fun and much more informative than anything print EGM or 1up itself published. Garnett Lee has hinted on Neogaf that the podcast will somehow survive, but I question how wise UGO's decision was to pull the plug on this show. It's quality content, which they desperately need. And it has a fanbase, which they also need, especially during this transition period.
With EGM gone, the only print game publication worth reading remaining is Edge...in truth, a much superior magazine than EGM ever was, even though it suffers from the same problems that exist in any industry controlled press.
As for the starship, I don't know. But if you want to use the Empire's cool theme song, you still have to write a check for the ISCA (Intergalactical Sith Collection Agency). Or make your own damn theme song!
Geist raises interesting points, as always. But for a more in-depth look into the sordid history of the Special 301 report, please read Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite's Information Feudalism, if you haven't yet. It's kinda like The Empire Strikes Back, with intellectual property lawyers and the content industry as the Empire, and not only one, but 50+ Darth Vaders.
I bought this a while back when it was fresh. Some of the articles are very, very good. But a considerable part of the content was already free back then, only not as a part of the book (i.e. the authors themselves had made some of the articles freely available before publication).
True, at least of Brazil. Pirate software always comes clean, and tech support is usually stellar (I'm not kidding, some of these guys will give you their phone number and walk you through any problems you might have).
I'd still rather head over to my favorite private torrent tracker - reproduction and distribution rights be damned, never cared, never will -, download to my heart's content, then buy the albums I really enjoy in physical, tangible media. I have absolutely no interest in paid music downloads, DRM or not (props to eMusic, though). I still want the actual CD with a nice booklet and the possibility of making backups whenever I feel like it, whether for archival or space-shifting purposes. That's what I've been doing ever since Napster, and that's what I'm going to keep doing until file sharing disappears.
I don't know if Dannon paid the NYT, but it sure does feel like it. Anyway, the Activia line is great, but as many posters have pointed out above hardly anything new, and by far not my favorite probiotic product (Yakult, forever). But it's a shame that from looking at the US site, they're not commercializing the best Activia flavor currently marketed in Brazil, oatmeal. Who cares about strawberry, peach and other regular yogurt flavors? I can get better tasting strawberry yogurt from other brands...that's much harder when it comes to oatmeal yogurt.
That is an issue, absolutely. Sometimes entire IP ranges get banned, and even entire countries (the whole of Israel is banned from a few trackers). The best thing is to never even contact mods or admins, since a mild misunderstanding could get you banned if they're on a bad day. Luckily, there are always alternate ways to obtain the content they provide.
...and couldn't care less about copyright law, head over to a private e-learning torrent tracker (just Google...getting invites is harder, but persevere), or connect to the ed2k network. You can easily complement these MIT course outlines with the recommended textbooks, in nice.pdf, ready-to-print format. If you don't find what you need, request it and someone might be able to help you. Or just go to a library.
I appreciate MIT's initiative, but they should disclose a bit more about these courses than what amounts to, basically, extended syllabi. Lecture notes, from the samples I've examined, are predictably useless. Some of the courses have videos of lectures, and that's a big plus compared to most of what the OpenCourseWare program usually offers. But that's not really enough. It's somewhat useful, but they're only distributing breadcrumbs, pretending they're giving out the whole bread (or half a loaf).
It's not Brazil itself protesting, it's the girl having second thoughts about the video, suing YouTube and a couple of Brazilian media sites, and the judge giving her a very stupid preliminary injunction that he expects parties not related to the case (Brazilian ISPs) to obey.
I'm still able to access YouTube, and I don't expect the situation to change. Otherwise Virtua (my ISP) is losing a customer. I like YouTube and I don't want to proxy my way around it.
I'm surprised at the Brasil Telecom block, it's INSANE. They weren't even defendants in the lawsuit. This is an issue between two Brazilian media portals AND YouTube, they're the ones being sued. Everyone else has nothing to do with this. And the video isn't even in YouTube any longer (Daily Motion still had it last I checked), not that it matters since EVERYONE and their dog and grandmother has seen it.
There are private torrent trackers around that specialize in alternative, non-mainstream and older movies. They're often almost as slow as ed2k, though, but the community is a nice plus.
Ok, after further research, the IFPI claims 20 Brazilians are being sued. But they don't know who they are, we're talking IP numbers. As far as Brazilian legal procedure is concerned, there's no lawsuit as of yet, maybe criminal investigations, but that's it.
...I searched for news, and all I could find were rewordings the IFPI press release. There was no news of an actual file sharing lawsuit. What there was, a few days ago, was a bust on a couple of guys who used Internet auction sites to sell warez. Maybe the IFPI just included those in an extremely broad definition of file sharing, to round the 8000 figure and try to frighten Brazilian file sharers.
...if he posted on Slashdot. He makes his bias very clear, and is not reluctant to call file sharing theft and morally wrong. That said, all of these studies suffer from serious methodological problems, no matter which side they swing. Here's an interesting comparison
The way I see it, that's exactly what's going on. Linux is definitely not going to be licensed under GPL3, but the main reason for that is not because Linus or a few devs don't like the license. It's because it would be factually next to impossible (or way too much of a hassle) to obtain persmission from every single person who contributed code to Linux.
Some people in the Linux community, however, seem to really hate the license, and are currently engaged in a counterpropaganda campaign. Whatever makes them happy.
This is what happens when Political Correctness becomes a matter of law.
Let's sidestep from the hate speech issue, because this is not only about that. There are people arranging drug deals and trading child porn over Orkut. Many of the cases in which Google was requested to comply with Brazilian court orders did not involve hate speech of any kind.
- The brazilian law does not allow promotion of rage.
This case is not only about hate speech laws. There's a lot of other stuff going on, and what bothers authorities, primarily, are drug and child porn related crimes.
Slashdot Mirror
...and want to read the entire 440-page report, here's the Scribd link: http://pt.scribd.com/doc/50196972/MPEE-1-0-1
But EGM...it had the same problems that plague game magazines, but sometimes very good stuff slipped through the usual crapfest. I also have fond memories of reading EGM when I was growing up, it was my main source of game news and reviews. I can't say the same about Gamepro or other game magazines, which contained writing that even an average kid could tell was poor.
What saddens me most, though, is the demise of the 1up podcasts. By which I mean the demise of 1up Yours, which was very, very fun and much more informative than anything print EGM or 1up itself published. Garnett Lee has hinted on Neogaf that the podcast will somehow survive, but I question how wise UGO's decision was to pull the plug on this show. It's quality content, which they desperately need. And it has a fanbase, which they also need, especially during this transition period.
With EGM gone, the only print game publication worth reading remaining is Edge...in truth, a much superior magazine than EGM ever was, even though it suffers from the same problems that exist in any industry controlled press.
Actually, The Pirate Bay folks are right. The quote is not Voltaire's.
As for the starship, I don't know. But if you want to use the Empire's cool theme song, you still have to write a check for the ISCA (Intergalactical Sith Collection Agency). Or make your own damn theme song!
Geist raises interesting points, as always. But for a more in-depth look into the sordid history of the Special 301 report, please read Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite's Information Feudalism, if you haven't yet. It's kinda like The Empire Strikes Back, with intellectual property lawyers and the content industry as the Empire, and not only one, but 50+ Darth Vaders.
I bought this a while back when it was fresh. Some of the articles are very, very good. But a considerable part of the content was already free back then, only not as a part of the book (i.e. the authors themselves had made some of the articles freely available before publication).
"Linux Experimenter" = Bi-curious. A bit dangerous, but let's not worry too much and just scare them straight.
"Market Follower" = MS bitches. We own these fuckers!
"Application Driven" = Dangerously misguided. Brainwashing might be needed, just to set them in order.
"Linux Aficionado" = Stupid, hopeless nerds. Recommended solution: hire hitman.
"Unix transitioner" = Head case. Keep distance.
The sheer knowledge of Russian criminal law in this thread is striking.
True, at least of Brazil. Pirate software always comes clean, and tech support is usually stellar (I'm not kidding, some of these guys will give you their phone number and walk you through any problems you might have).
I'd still rather head over to my favorite private torrent tracker - reproduction and distribution rights be damned, never cared, never will -, download to my heart's content, then buy the albums I really enjoy in physical, tangible media. I have absolutely no interest in paid music downloads, DRM or not (props to eMusic, though). I still want the actual CD with a nice booklet and the possibility of making backups whenever I feel like it, whether for archival or space-shifting purposes. That's what I've been doing ever since Napster, and that's what I'm going to keep doing until file sharing disappears.
I don't know if Dannon paid the NYT, but it sure does feel like it. Anyway, the Activia line is great, but as many posters have pointed out above hardly anything new, and by far not my favorite probiotic product (Yakult, forever). But it's a shame that from looking at the US site, they're not commercializing the best Activia flavor currently marketed in Brazil, oatmeal. Who cares about strawberry, peach and other regular yogurt flavors? I can get better tasting strawberry yogurt from other brands...that's much harder when it comes to oatmeal yogurt.
A real HD DVDrip of Serenity is already out and making the rounds.
That is an issue, absolutely. Sometimes entire IP ranges get banned, and even entire countries (the whole of Israel is banned from a few trackers). The best thing is to never even contact mods or admins, since a mild misunderstanding could get you banned if they're on a bad day. Luckily, there are always alternate ways to obtain the content they provide.
...and couldn't care less about copyright law, head over to a private e-learning torrent tracker (just Google...getting invites is harder, but persevere), or connect to the ed2k network. You can easily complement these MIT course outlines with the recommended textbooks, in nice .pdf, ready-to-print format. If you don't find what you need, request it and someone might be able to help you. Or just go to a library.
I appreciate MIT's initiative, but they should disclose a bit more about these courses than what amounts to, basically, extended syllabi. Lecture notes, from the samples I've examined, are predictably useless. Some of the courses have videos of lectures, and that's a big plus compared to most of what the OpenCourseWare program usually offers. But that's not really enough. It's somewhat useful, but they're only distributing breadcrumbs, pretending they're giving out the whole bread (or half a loaf).
It's not Brazil itself protesting, it's the girl having second thoughts about the video, suing YouTube and a couple of Brazilian media sites, and the judge giving her a very stupid preliminary injunction that he expects parties not related to the case (Brazilian ISPs) to obey.
I'm still able to access YouTube, and I don't expect the situation to change. Otherwise Virtua (my ISP) is losing a customer. I like YouTube and I don't want to proxy my way around it.
I'm surprised at the Brasil Telecom block, it's INSANE. They weren't even defendants in the lawsuit. This is an issue between two Brazilian media portals AND YouTube, they're the ones being sued. Everyone else has nothing to do with this. And the video isn't even in YouTube any longer (Daily Motion still had it last I checked), not that it matters since EVERYONE and their dog and grandmother has seen it.
This is ridiculous.
There are private torrent trackers around that specialize in alternative, non-mainstream and older movies. They're often almost as slow as ed2k, though, but the community is a nice plus.
Ok, after further research, the IFPI claims 20 Brazilians are being sued. But they don't know who they are, we're talking IP numbers. As far as Brazilian legal procedure is concerned, there's no lawsuit as of yet, maybe criminal investigations, but that's it.
...I searched for news, and all I could find were rewordings the IFPI press release. There was no news of an actual file sharing lawsuit. What there was, a few days ago, was a bust on a couple of guys who used Internet auction sites to sell warez. Maybe the IFPI just included those in an extremely broad definition of file sharing, to round the 8000 figure and try to frighten Brazilian file sharers.
...if he posted on Slashdot. He makes his bias very clear, and is not reluctant to call file sharing theft and morally wrong. That said, all of these studies suffer from serious methodological problems, no matter which side they swing. Here's an interesting comparison
The way I see it, that's exactly what's going on. Linux is definitely not going to be licensed under GPL3, but the main reason for that is not because Linus or a few devs don't like the license. It's because it would be factually next to impossible (or way too much of a hassle) to obtain persmission from every single person who contributed code to Linux.
Some people in the Linux community, however, seem to really hate the license, and are currently engaged in a counterpropaganda campaign. Whatever makes them happy.
Now I know of a good way to kill a rattlesnake [.pdf]!
Yes and some of the people that the KGB disapppeared were actually guilty of a real crime.
Darn it, had you mentioned the SS instead of the KGB I could've invoked Godwin's. =(
This is what happens when Political Correctness becomes a matter of law.
Let's sidestep from the hate speech issue, because this is not only about that. There are people arranging drug deals and trading child porn over Orkut. Many of the cases in which Google was requested to comply with Brazilian court orders did not involve hate speech of any kind.
- The brazilian law does not allow promotion of rage. This case is not only about hate speech laws. There's a lot of other stuff going on, and what bothers authorities, primarily, are drug and child porn related crimes.