Month: April 2025

Wizards of the Coast has released the System Reference Document, the heart of the three core rule books that constitute Dungeons & Dragons' 2024 gameplay, under a Creative Commons license. This means the company cannot alter the deal further, like it almost did in early 2023, leading to considerable pushback and, eventually, a retreat. It was a long quest, but the lawful good party has earned some long-term rewards, including a new, similarly licensed reference book.

Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast (WotC) put the core D&D rules into an Open Gaming License in the early 2000s, inspired by Richard Stallman's GNU General Public License. The idea was that by making the core mechanics, classes, spells, races, and monsters available for anyone to build on, royalty-free, more versions of games would draw more people into the tabletop roleplaying sphere, and perhaps back to the core D&D games and rule books. It also likely didn't do much harm to WotC's properties, as these basic aspects of the game, and bits taken from existing fantasy works, were going to be difficult to copyright.

WotC considered that the Open Gaming License (OGL) was open to revisions, however, and the company proposed changes to the OGL that would require that anyone making certain amounts of money had to report it (over $50,000 per year) or start paying royalties (over $750,000). A leaked version of that license put the higher-level royalties at 25 percent, and only covered printed materials and static PDFs, leaving virtual tabletop and software makers questioning where they might fit in.

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Wizards of the Coast has released the System Reference Document, the heart of the three core rule books that constitute Dungeons & Dragons' 2024 gameplay, under a Creative Commons license. This means the company cannot alter the deal further, like it almost did in early 2023, leading to considerable pushback and, eventually, a retreat. It was a long quest, but the lawful good party has earned some long-term rewards, including a new, similarly licensed reference book.

Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast (WotC) put the core D&D rules into an Open Gaming License in the early 2000s, inspired by Richard Stallman's GNU General Public License. The idea was that by making the core mechanics, classes, spells, races, and monsters available for anyone to build on, royalty-free, more versions of games would draw more people into the tabletop roleplaying sphere, and perhaps back to the core D&D games and rule books. It also likely didn't do much harm to WotC's properties, as these basic aspects of the game, and bits taken from existing fantasy works, were going to be difficult to copyright.

WotC considered that the Open Gaming License (OGL) was open to revisions, however, and the company proposed changes to the OGL that would require that anyone making certain amounts of money had to report it (over $50,000 per year) or start paying royalties (over $750,000). A leaked version of that license put the higher-level royalties at 25 percent, and only covered printed materials and static PDFs, leaving virtual tabletop and software makers questioning where they might fit in.

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Die Akku-Luftpumpe von Wiha kostet befristet bei Amazon nicht halb so viel wie die beliebte Bosch EasyPump. Günstiger war sie dort nie. (Technik/Hardware, Bosch)

Die Akku-Luftpumpe von Wiha kostet befristet bei Amazon nicht halb so viel wie die beliebte Bosch EasyPump. Günstiger war sie dort nie. (Technik/Hardware, Bosch)

Eine strukturierte Einführung in Keycloak zeigt, wie sich Single Sign-on, Multi-Faktor-Authentifizierung und Nutzerverwaltung zentral realisieren lassen - inklusive Anbindung an bestehende Infrastrukturen. (Golem Karrierewelt, Server-Applikationen)

Lumen Technologies, ehemals Centurylink, hat zusammen mit Google Cloud einiges vor. Man will die Internetstruktur der USA für Cloud und AI modernisieren. (Cloud, Glasfaser)

The European Commission issued a €500 million fine to Apple and a €200 million fine to Meta yesterday, saying that both companies violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The companies are required to bring their platforms into compliance within 60 days or face "periodic penalty payments," the EC said.

These are the first two non-compliance decisions adopted by the commission under the DMA. The EC said it determined that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation and that "Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data."

"Apple and Meta have fallen short of compliance with the DMA by implementing measures that reinforce the dependence of business users and consumers on their platforms," said European Commissioner for Competition Teresa Ribera.

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At the Meta monopoly trial, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom accused Mark Zuckerberg of draining Instagram resources to stifle growth out of sheer jealousy.

According to Systrom, Zuckerberg may have been directly involved in yanking resources after integrating Instagram and Facebook because "as the founder of Facebook, he felt a lot of emotion around which one was better—Instagram or Facebook," The Financial Times reported.

In 2025, Instagram is projected to account for more than half of Meta's ad revenue, according to eMarketer's forecast. Since 2019, Instagram has generated more ad revenue per user than Facebook, eMarketer noted, and today makes Meta twice as much per user as the closest rival that Meta claims it fears most, TikTok.

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Amazon bietet verschiedene Kaffeevollautomaten von Philips an. Aktuell gibt es Rabatte bis zu 150 Euro. (Haushaltsgeräte, Amazon)

Smarte Autos, viel KI und Gaming auf der Rückbank: Die Automesse in Shanghai zeigt, wie Zukunft auf Rädern aussieht - und wer vorn mitfährt. (Mobilität, Auto)