"Direkt aus ‘Blade Runner 2049’"

Die Großbrände im Westen der USA weiten sich immer stärker aus. Laut dem Bericht einer US-Regulierungsbehörde bedroht der Klimawandel die Stabilität der Finanzmärkte

Die Großbrände im Westen der USA weiten sich immer stärker aus. Laut dem Bericht einer US-Regulierungsbehörde bedroht der Klimawandel die Stabilität der Finanzmärkte

Nawalny: Nebelkerzen auf allen Seiten

Offenbar hat Deutschland weder der OPCW noch Russland Informationen weitergegeben. Nowitschok bleibt vorerst ein vernebelter Begriff im politischen Ränkespiel

Offenbar hat Deutschland weder der OPCW noch Russland Informationen weitergegeben. Nowitschok bleibt vorerst ein vernebelter Begriff im politischen Ränkespiel

It’s the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, and the tropics are bonkers

It is quite zany, but if these storms remain out to sea then, hey, go crazy, 2020.

A satellite image of the state of play Thursday across the tropics.

Enlarge / A satellite image of the state of play Thursday across the tropics. (credit: NOAA)

The historical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season—the point at which, climatologically speaking, the most activity takes place—is today. And this being 2020, the Atlantic tropics are not wanting in vim and vigor.

The latest outlook from the National Hurricane Center shows two active named systems in the Atlantic: tropical storms Paulette and Rene. Although both of these storms should turn north well short of the continental United States, there is some concern about Paulette reaching Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane by early next week.

Looking beyond these two storms reveals no fewer than four "areas of interest" to watch on the hurricane map.

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Lilbits: Access Linux files in Windows, sync your Steam games with Chromebooks (in the cloud)

Last month NVIDIA announced that its GeForce Now game streaming service was adding support for Chromebooks, allowing you to stream PC games through a web app, even if you’re using low-end hardware. Now NVIDIA is making it easier to access games …

Last month NVIDIA announced that its GeForce Now game streaming service was adding support for Chromebooks, allowing you to stream PC games through a web app, even if you’re using low-end hardware. Now NVIDIA is making it easier to access games you already own, by allowing Chromebook users to sync their Steam game libraries. Meanwhile […]

The post Lilbits: Access Linux files in Windows, sync your Steam games with Chromebooks (in the cloud) appeared first on Liliputing.

Immortals Fenyx Rising angespielt: Göttliches Gaga-Gegenstück zu Assassin’s Creed

Abenteuer im antiken Griechenland mal anders! Golem.de hat das für Dezember 2020 geplante Immortals ausprobiert und zeigt Gameplay im Video. Von Peter Steinlechner (Immortals Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft)

Abenteuer im antiken Griechenland mal anders! Golem.de hat das für Dezember 2020 geplante Immortals ausprobiert und zeigt Gameplay im Video. Von Peter Steinlechner (Immortals Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft)

Immortals hands-on: I guess Ubisoft is copying Breath of the Wild now

Formerly titled Gods & Monsters, it launches Dec. 2. It’s pretty, but it’s messy.

As part of today's "Ubisoft Forward" event—which began with a statement from CEO Yves Guillemot apologizing for years of abusive behavior and a recent PR faux pas—the game studio revealed a game that, in light of the company's issues, seems like a weird flex.

The two-hour demo I played of Immortals: Fenyx Rising, a third-person adventure in the vein of Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, feels like a game from a problematic Ubisoft era. (It's been around for long enough, having originally been revealed as a game called Gods & Monsters, but now has a new title and a December 2 release date.) Before I get into the game's mechanics—which rip off BotW so shamelessly that I wonder whether Nintendo may press charges—I want to talk about its tone.

“Get a room, already”

The game stars Fenyx, a mortal Greek woman with supernatural powers like flight and telekinesis, on a mission to restore order to Mount Olympus. At first glance, you may look at the armor-clad hero and think Ubisoft has continued its streak of cool-and-powerful game heroines, following Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Kassandra.

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Revisiting the spectacular failure that was the Bill Gates deposition

In the 1990s, Microsoft wore its disdain for antitrust on its sleeve. Now, not so much.

Revisiting the spectacular failure that was the Bill Gates deposition

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

When Microsoft backed a key motion filed two weeks ago in Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against Apple, it raised a few eyebrows.

Two decades ago, the US Justice Department, 18 states, and the District of Columbia sued Microsoft on allegations the Windows operating system represented a monopoly that the company was wielding to prop up its then fledgling Internet Explorer browser, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The suit expressly claimed that Microsoft was using Windows to freeze out the Netscape browser and, more tacitly, Sun Microsystems’ cross-platform Java platform as well.

The software maker vehemently bristled at the allegations and claimed that the action represented a government intrusion brought at the behest of companies that couldn’t compete on the merits. Microsoft warned that the action would set a dangerous precedent that could stifle innovation for years to come.

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Archivists Want Broader DMCA Exemption for ‘Abandoned’ Online Games

Several organizations have asked the Copyright Office to renew the exemption to the DMCA’s DRM circumvention restrictions. This allows abandoned online games to be preserved for future generations. In addition, the Software Preservation Network and the Library Copyright Alliance ask for an expansion, to allow these games to be made available more broadly.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

gameboy advanceThere are a lot of things people are not allowed to do under US copyright law, but perhaps just as importantly there are exemptions too.

The U.S. Copyright Office regularly reviews these exemptions to Section 1201 of the DMCA, which prevents the public from ‘tinkering’ with DRM-protected content and devices.

These provisions are renewed every three years after the Office hears various arguments from stakeholders and the general public. This also allows interested parties to suggest new exemptions.

During the last update in 2018, there was a small but significant win for nostalgic gamers. To preserve ‘abandoned’ games for future generations, the Copyright Office expanded the game preservation exemptions to games that require an online component.

This was a crucial addition, as most games nowadays have an online aspect. With the new exemption, preservation institutions that legally possess a copy of a video game’s server code and the game’s local code were allowed to break DRM and other technological restrictions to make these playable.

This type of “tinkering” is now seen as fair use by the Government, which rejected critique from the major game companies who feared that libraries and museums might exploit this right for commercial purposes, which would hurt their sales.

A few weeks ago the Copyright Office started its latest review of the DMCA exemptions which will be updated next year. Since then, several submissions from archivists, digital rights, and consumer organizations have come in. Several of these ask the Office to renew the current exemptions for abandoned online games.

The Software Preservation Network (SPN) and the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) note that this new exemption ensures that classic games will be preserved. This allows nostalgic gamers and younger generations to play older games that are no longer officially supported. This has already led to some success stories.

“For instance, Georgia Tech Library’s Computing Lab, retroTECH, has a significant collection of recovered video game consoles, many of which are made accessible for research and teaching uses by the §1201 exemption. Dozens of Gameboy Advance, console and PC games can now be preserved, with lower risks of copyright infringement claims or legal action,” SPN and LCS write.

The call to renew the exemption is supported by the nonprofit group Consumer Reports, which notes that the exemption “has proven very beneficial to consumers in removing this obstacle to preserving the functionality of video games they enjoy.”

In addition to renewing the current rules, SPN and LCS have also requested an expansion. At the moment, they are allowed to break DRM, if needed, but these games can only be made available inside the premises of ‘eligible’ institutions such as libraries and museums.

In a new submission, both groups ask the Copyright Office to drop this restriction.

“SPN and the LCA request expansion of the video game preservation exemption […] to eliminate the requirement that the program not be distributed or made available outside of the physical premises of an eligible institution,” they write.

As always, the current DMCA review will take a few months to be completed. While the request will certainly be considered, it’s possible that games companies will object to the new suggestion, as they have done repeatedly in the past.

Much of the credit for getting the Copyright Office to adopt the present exemption goes to San Francisco’s Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (The MADE), which filed its petition three years ago.

The Museum, which is loved by many gaming fans, recently had to close its doors and put its collection into storage. However, like many abandoned games, it’s not gone forever. The MADE is currently raising money to respawn elsewhere.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.