http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c476 Sat, 25 May 2013 20:29:40 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c476 Sorry, her involvement with wikileaks is pretty deep, she is their main EU political apologist, and has even been mentioned here on Techdirt as a founder (in comments).

Sorry, but that's simply incorrect. You still seem to be confusing her with Birgitta. She has nothing to do with Wikileaks.

Sorry!

You should be. Because you're wrong.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c4034 Sat, 25 May 2013 20:16:40 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c4034
For any product to be universally accepted it must be... universally available? (lets not forget universally appreciated) Yeah. Ideally it should be available at the local 7/11 convenience store or truck stop. Its sweet that MS shareholders want a larger cut of the pie but have they considered the size of the marketshare pie itself? (Is it growing or shrinking? What corporate wanking decides whether to squeeze cash out of a small captive market or profits from a larger open market??)

If EA/Microsoft/Maxis/etc were selling bubble gum or candy bars at the local convenience store who would care if a 50 cent or dollar item was disposable or not redeemable (with quality exceptions of course)? MS games cost about 30-60 a pop! They are NOT selling Life Savers or chocolate but ultra premium products that few could consider disposable. What can the average family afford? Zip.

MS seems to dance around the topic of 'always online'. Even if this is not totally true, exactly what data does MS record and is there the capability to refuse/shutoff automatic updates and yet retain full functionality? Do the updates include changes to the End User Licensing Agreements (EULA) or Terms Of Service (TOS)? This only sounds trivial but it's major contractual stupidity for any user. (Want to rant about such open ended nightmares of legal responsibility heaped on the average consumer.) -restrains self heroically-

Ok. The real beef in this imaginary triple decker with special sauce 2140 calorie burger... Privacy. Of which John Kass of the Chicago Tribune wrote a much more scary article about where it might be convincingly the only case where nuclear drone strikes might do some good.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-24/news/ct-met-kass-0524-20130524_1_drone-attacks-xbox-one-jeff-henshaw

To bring the 'always online' threat to full boil... The Xbox One has both a]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c4015 Sat, 25 May 2013 20:10:54 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c4015
Same here. The portion of my brain responsible for paranoia is ringing alarm bells like crazy over this "feature". Inevitable tinfoil hat related questions pop to mind, like how deeply is the US government involved in this move by Microsoft? A high resolution camera and microphone in your home is no doubt a wet dream for the likes of the DoD/CIA/HLS/etc. Foreign governments should be very concerned about this development if they care at all about their citizens. I live in Canada and can only hope my government has the good sense to outlaw such a requirement. Doubtful given the Conservatives track record unfortunately.

I read this post on Gamespot today and thought it was worth adding to the conversation:

"I am guessing that this console is for

People who do not have a smart phone with internet capabilities.

People who do not have a Media Streaming device like: Roku, Apple TV, Tivo,

People who do not have a Smart TV

People who do not have a cable/Satalite DVR

People who do not have a Xbox 360/PS3/Wii

But those people who have none of these, would they be the ones to but a Xbox One????"

A good question. I also liked the post by an Anonymous Coward here on Techdrt:

"Here's all you need to know

-It will spy on you
-You won't be able to make it stop
-You won't be able to play used games
-You won't be able to lend games out
-You won't be able to disconnect it from the internet for too long
-You won't be able to swap internal hard drives
-You won't be able to play 360 games

But ignore all that, Look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!"

It's looking as if I will be going back to PC gaming after all, as more information about these next gen consoles comes to light. There are quite a few PC games I want to play which are not available on any console so I'm ok with that. I actually just built a new machine and was amazed by two things; how powerful it is and how cheap it's become to build such a beast. It will last me five years minimum and does everything the XB1 can do, except I'm the one in complete control.

Here is more food for thought. GameStop shares are taking a big hit thanks to recent news regarding used games. I wonder if they'll respond by boycotting all things Microsoft, choosing to sell only competitors products? Used games is big business with a heck of a lot of dollars involved, and not just for GameStop. Would game developers then respond by making their games only available on the XB1, in effect punishing the other console makers for not being as locked down and controlling as the XB1? From a business perspective, the video gaming market is about to be hit by an earthquake of epic proportions and it will be very interesting to see how things pan out for all the players involved once the dust settles.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3965 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:35:52 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3965 "Xbox has done me very well over the years. I have had my Xbox fixed by the company twice"

This is acceptable to you? In my 30+ years of gaming I've NEVER had to have a console "fixed", but then I never bought an Xbox either. This was mostly unheard of until the Xbox came along. With the Xbox it seems to be a normal thing.

My 35 year old Atari 2600 still works as good today as the day I got it, though I did have to replace the joysticks a while back.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c769 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:27:49 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/01462423203/ex-prenda-lawyer-brett-gibbs-pleads-poverty-to-judge-wright.shtml#c769 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c64 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:19:09 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c64 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c54 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:06:44 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c54
I should sell a book entitled how to become a shill.

A: Make things up

B: When you don't know how to respond to something or you don't know the answer make something up. It doesn't have to be true or make any sense. and bonus points for poorly punctuated and incoherent sentences with poor spelling and run on sentences that no one could understand, you might fool someone into thinking there is a valid point in there somewhere.

C: Throw a bunch of false, unsubstantiated, and absurd accusations at your opponents. The more outrageous the better

D: Never say anything substantial, useful, or logical

E: Never substantiate anything you say with facts or evidence

F: Never make sense. If your argument is strong enough it doesn't need to be logically consistent or make sense. It should stand on its own merit and be a self evident truth. QED

G: Don't worry about the veracity of anything you say

H: Don't hesitate to lie. We're shills, we're not about truth we're about propaganda and our own agenda

I: Never fact check. Never do any research. It's too time consuming and your time is better spent making more haste comments without even spending the time to think before you post. Quantity before quality

J: Fear monger. Remember, spreading FUD is more effective than using good logic. Appeal to people's emotions and not their intellect, it works better.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c458 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:02:23 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c458
Sorry!]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/17494123208/awesome-stuff-dealers-choice.shtml#c91 Sat, 25 May 2013 18:57:27 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/17494123208/awesome-stuff-dealers-choice.shtml#c91
See how creative they are? I wonder if longer copyright terms might give them more incentive to be original?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c48 Sat, 25 May 2013 18:43:31 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c48 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3515 Sat, 25 May 2013 18:26:45 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3515 WHY this should be reported on Techdirt wasn't mentioned. I, sent them a URL & questioned if Microsoft trying to cutoff or control Used Games, or even control where you can play it, might violate the First Sale Doctrine.

I think this was the URL: http://kotaku.com/you-will-be-able-to-trade-xbox-one-games-online-micros-509140825

I was never going to get a Xbox branded system, Xbox One just proves my choice right.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c25 Sat, 25 May 2013 18:24:13 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c25
Good news for you. Amazon will now let you sell your fan fiction for $$. Why waste your literaty talents here when you could be the next Barbara Cartland?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3474 Sat, 25 May 2013 18:03:07 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3474 The XBox One is a very very bad thing because of the 8GB of GDDR3 RAM...which is much slower and far less efficient than the WiiU's use of esRAM...XBox One only reserves 3GB for gaming...that's including software and graphics in that 3GB space...given the average game will likely use 2GB of RAM just to run the software from the hard disk, that's 1GB for graphics. This means that not only is it running off of Graphics RAM technology from roughly 4 or 5 years ago, it's also means that in order to keep the efficiency and smooth gameplay, they have to keep the games natively at 720p .. The left over 5 GB of GDDR3 RAM is strictly for you to run the OS.That, to me, sounds like Microsoft handing Nintendo a massive gift. With all the restrictions, the used game mess, & the uncertainty*, once Nintendo starts giving the Wii U proper game support (or the next Zelda launches), it might actually be a proper Console War after all.

*We also need to keep in mind Micro$ucks patent for what's now called "Visual DRM", which could be in use w/ the Xbox One's Kinect 2.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3426 Sat, 25 May 2013 17:54:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3426
Unlike most people, I plan to wait months beyond its release before I buy it. This way, I allow the suck, er, gamers to throw down their cash and tell me what's up with the console (especially if it, you know, crashes and requires a send off to be repaired).

While I am fine with these new consoles being reclassified as "entertainment systems", it's really disappointing to see the gaming market is being forced to change in lieu of proprietary crap like this.

Doesn't matter if the game requires an always-on internet connection, or that codes have to be used to play used games, the bottom line here is Gamestop's billion dollar business model is ruined because everyone else believes those monies should be theirs and no one else.

If this is the future of gaming, they can keep it.

The great news in all this will be those who rush to sell their 360 and games means I can pick them up for a song (and maybe a dance), as I will most assuredly keep my 360 on hand for years to come, thanks to all the "new" games I'll have.

PS: The Kinect will be a deal killer for me. No way in hell will I ever allow Big Business to require a camera in my house for their use. NO WAY.

That's just going far, far, far over the line for "entertainment".

Anyone who complains about this feature in the future, because it will be abused, has no one but themselves to blame.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/17321623162/released-video-silva-beating-shows-his-last-moments-video-actual-beating-still-missing.shtml#c1025 Sat, 25 May 2013 17:49:01 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/17321623162/released-video-silva-beating-shows-his-last-moments-video-actual-beating-still-missing.shtml#c1025 They could've had a police watching them for cell phone usage or anything.

The witnesses' current attorney, Daniel Rodriguez, states that even before deputies arrived at the home where the witnesses were held, the Sheriff's deputies ordered the witnesses not to post the videos online.

]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c443 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:54:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02021423169/defense-digital-freedom-its-time-to-get-beyond-cyber-hyperbole.shtml#c443 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3251 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:46:26 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3251 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3215 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:15:03 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3215 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3172 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:12:58 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/06445123204/xbox-one-release-tons-questions-very-few-answers.shtml#c3172 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c16 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:04:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130524/15080223207/gmacguffins-favorite-techdirt-posts-week.shtml#c16