So, Apple has started offering DRM-free mp3 tracks in their iTunes store. Sounds great, right? Well, apparently, instead of DRM, your tunes are full of your personal information.
Creepy? I'm thinking yes. And apparently, eMusic.com does this too. Yikes.
This also begs the question: Is it too much to ask to just own something you buy without some funky copy protection strings attached?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Well great
I missed the deadline for the Hot Topic discussion in 2600. I didn't even realize we had something due for that- I was too busy trying to figure out the assignment due on Thursday!
Speaking of which, I don't know if I'm going to be around this weekend, so I have to get that in by tomorrow and get my response in on Thursday just in case, and I'm not really sure what to write yet. Man.
Speaking of which, I don't know if I'm going to be around this weekend, so I have to get that in by tomorrow and get my response in on Thursday just in case, and I'm not really sure what to write yet. Man.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Busy week
Wow, busy week. I haven't been able to do much class-wise. Not a good thing. Fortunately I have some time finally.
I managed to get a webcam AND get it working! Here's proof:
Zam is usually more talkative than that.
He really likes to look out the window, which explains why there's a big wet nose smear on every glass surface in the house. Our old house didn't have windows with windowsills, so he's enjoying being able to rest his head on them now.
I managed to get a webcam AND get it working! Here's proof:
Zam is usually more talkative than that.
He really likes to look out the window, which explains why there's a big wet nose smear on every glass surface in the house. Our old house didn't have windows with windowsills, so he's enjoying being able to rest his head on them now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
More Kuhn Fun
So I'm putting the finishing touches on my Kuhn review. I can only hope I did it right. I'm currently working on the part that always got me stuck- the conclusion. I always hated conclusions, since they make me feel like all I'm doing is repeating everything I just said earlier. Not to mention, in longer papers, by the time I'm at the conclusion I'm ready to be done, and the only things I can think of are variations of "arrrgh" and "graaaah". Yeah, I don't know how I managed to survive being an English major, either.
Speaking of which, this thing was a pain to write not only because I haven't written a formal *anything* in the past year, but also because I'm more accustomed to analyzing literary techniques and writing style instead of scientific theory.
Speaking of which, this thing was a pain to write not only because I haven't written a formal *anything* in the past year, but also because I'm more accustomed to analyzing literary techniques and writing style instead of scientific theory.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Kuhn book review
Well, I have a handful of random sentences, some kind of disjointed argument, and a quote from the book so far. The good news is, I just need to write some more sentences that connect the ones I already have and I'll reach the 500 word limit. The bad news is... well, I only have a handful of random sentences, some kind of disjointed argument, and a quote from the book so far.
I don't miss writing essays.
But I haven't had a chance to listen to the podcast on Kuhn yet, so that might help. I think I'll give it a listen after dinner... and the season finale of Heroes. :)
I don't miss writing essays.
But I haven't had a chance to listen to the podcast on Kuhn yet, so that might help. I think I'll give it a listen after dinner... and the season finale of Heroes. :)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Microcontent, Telltale Games & Other Stuff
So I was reading the article for this week (Information Format Trends), and the part that interested me the most was the bit (no pun intended) on microcontent.
I'd argue that microcontent has been around a lot longer than the Internet, in the form of serialized content. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and other authors of the Victorian era published their novels bit by bit in magazines. Granted, a novel published in installments works a little differently than selling individual MP3s of songs from an album- installments are typically published on a certain schedule (once a week/month, etc), and the author has to make sure he or she keeps the reader interested enough in the story to buy the next installment. A more recent example (i.e. one that's not a hundred years old) of a serialized novel is The Green Mile by Stephen King. The novel was split into six volumes, and they were released monthly at a lower price than a complete novel (much like a single MP3 costs significantly less than a full album).
Another thing that I could argue is a form of microcontent are television shows- especially more recent shows like 24, Lost and Heroes, because they seem to follow the structure of serialized novels. Each episode doesn't contain a complete story, but rather, all of the episodes together form a large, overarching plot, and viewers are kept interested by plot twists, foreshadowing, and cliffhangers, and kept up to date with flashbacks and recaps that remind them of what happened in previous episodes.
But anyway, what I really wanted to write about was video games and microcontent (it always seems to come back to video games with me). The first thing I thought of when I was reading the section on microcontent was Telltale Games, a small, independent company that's pioneering serialized gaming. The decision to make their games episodic was originally done out of necessity- in order to cut down on publishing and packaging costs, Telltale decided to offer their games through downloads rather than seek a publisher and try to get their games sold in stores, and in order to make downloads as small as possible, they decided to break their games up into smaller increments. Coincidentally enough, their two major titles are based on comic book series, which might be yet another form of microcontent.
I first heard of Telltale when I learned they were making a game based on my favorite comic book series, BONE by Jeff Smith. The comic itself was published in nine volumes, and Telltale plans on splitting the game into nine parts that more or less correspond with them. So far, they've released two episodes of BONE, with each one ranging from about 4-6 hours in length (and although it's very hard to accurately measure a game's length, I will say that yes, that's pretty short as far as games go). Originally, the release schedule for BONE was to be "every couple of months", but the game was temporarily put on the backburner in order to put more effort into their second, and arguably more important, game: season one of Sam & Max.
Sam & Max, like BONE, is based on a comic book series of the same name by Steve Purcell. Sam & Max differs from BONE in that it has a unique storyline that merely draws on the themes, locations and characters of the comic, and it had a very different and much more strict release schedule. Season one contains six episodes, each one ranging from 2-4 hours in length (or so they claim- they *all* took me much longer, and I still haven't finished the final one). Episode One was released last October, and after a two month break, each episode after that was released once a month. I'm pretty sure Sam & Max is the very first *completed* episodic game, which makes it pretty notable. It (and BONE, to some extent) is also a good example of developers listening to customer feedback. For example, one major criticism of the game was its reuse of locations and characters in each episode. Telltale paid attention, and in the fourth, fifth and sixth episodes, the bulk of the gameplay takes place in entirely new and unique locations, with many new characters to interact with.
So what's my point? Well, the article seemed to put a negative spin on the concept of microcontent. I'll agree that buying a wallpaper for your cellphone seems kind of silly, but I don't think it'll ever get to the point where you pay $.25 for a sentence. Also, buying and selling content in small increments has been around since the Victorian era, so it's hardly a by-product of the instant access of the Internet. And in the case of Telltale Games, using microcontent put a small game developer on the map, which is pretty hard to do in the video game industry. By giving customers small chunks of games that they can download from their website, Telltale can get their games to the masses without relying on publishers and retail stores. And it's not just independent game developers that benefit from it- musicians do it all the time, and the course blog even has an article about Jonathan Coulton, who makes a living selling MP3s of his songs. So, I think microcontent is a good thing for independent artists (video games, music or otherwise) who probably wouldn't be able to get their material out there as easily without it.
Oh, and I also highly recommended any of Telltale's games or Coulton's music. :)
I'd argue that microcontent has been around a lot longer than the Internet, in the form of serialized content. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and other authors of the Victorian era published their novels bit by bit in magazines. Granted, a novel published in installments works a little differently than selling individual MP3s of songs from an album- installments are typically published on a certain schedule (once a week/month, etc), and the author has to make sure he or she keeps the reader interested enough in the story to buy the next installment. A more recent example (i.e. one that's not a hundred years old) of a serialized novel is The Green Mile by Stephen King. The novel was split into six volumes, and they were released monthly at a lower price than a complete novel (much like a single MP3 costs significantly less than a full album).
Another thing that I could argue is a form of microcontent are television shows- especially more recent shows like 24, Lost and Heroes, because they seem to follow the structure of serialized novels. Each episode doesn't contain a complete story, but rather, all of the episodes together form a large, overarching plot, and viewers are kept interested by plot twists, foreshadowing, and cliffhangers, and kept up to date with flashbacks and recaps that remind them of what happened in previous episodes.
But anyway, what I really wanted to write about was video games and microcontent (it always seems to come back to video games with me). The first thing I thought of when I was reading the section on microcontent was Telltale Games, a small, independent company that's pioneering serialized gaming. The decision to make their games episodic was originally done out of necessity- in order to cut down on publishing and packaging costs, Telltale decided to offer their games through downloads rather than seek a publisher and try to get their games sold in stores, and in order to make downloads as small as possible, they decided to break their games up into smaller increments. Coincidentally enough, their two major titles are based on comic book series, which might be yet another form of microcontent.
I first heard of Telltale when I learned they were making a game based on my favorite comic book series, BONE by Jeff Smith. The comic itself was published in nine volumes, and Telltale plans on splitting the game into nine parts that more or less correspond with them. So far, they've released two episodes of BONE, with each one ranging from about 4-6 hours in length (and although it's very hard to accurately measure a game's length, I will say that yes, that's pretty short as far as games go). Originally, the release schedule for BONE was to be "every couple of months", but the game was temporarily put on the backburner in order to put more effort into their second, and arguably more important, game: season one of Sam & Max.
Sam & Max, like BONE, is based on a comic book series of the same name by Steve Purcell. Sam & Max differs from BONE in that it has a unique storyline that merely draws on the themes, locations and characters of the comic, and it had a very different and much more strict release schedule. Season one contains six episodes, each one ranging from 2-4 hours in length (or so they claim- they *all* took me much longer, and I still haven't finished the final one). Episode One was released last October, and after a two month break, each episode after that was released once a month. I'm pretty sure Sam & Max is the very first *completed* episodic game, which makes it pretty notable. It (and BONE, to some extent) is also a good example of developers listening to customer feedback. For example, one major criticism of the game was its reuse of locations and characters in each episode. Telltale paid attention, and in the fourth, fifth and sixth episodes, the bulk of the gameplay takes place in entirely new and unique locations, with many new characters to interact with.
So what's my point? Well, the article seemed to put a negative spin on the concept of microcontent. I'll agree that buying a wallpaper for your cellphone seems kind of silly, but I don't think it'll ever get to the point where you pay $.25 for a sentence. Also, buying and selling content in small increments has been around since the Victorian era, so it's hardly a by-product of the instant access of the Internet. And in the case of Telltale Games, using microcontent put a small game developer on the map, which is pretty hard to do in the video game industry. By giving customers small chunks of games that they can download from their website, Telltale can get their games to the masses without relying on publishers and retail stores. And it's not just independent game developers that benefit from it- musicians do it all the time, and the course blog even has an article about Jonathan Coulton, who makes a living selling MP3s of his songs. So, I think microcontent is a good thing for independent artists (video games, music or otherwise) who probably wouldn't be able to get their material out there as easily without it.
Oh, and I also highly recommended any of Telltale's games or Coulton's music. :)
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
DRM-free
Is DRM dead?
According to this guy, it could be. Amazon.com is planning on launching a music-downloading store that sells only DRM-free music, other digital music stores (like eMusic for example) have been successfully selling it for years, and even iTunes is offering music without copy restrictions. I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't own an iPod or use iTunes (whoo Rio Carbon!), so as far as I know, I've actually never dealt with DRM myself, but I can definitely see where people have a problem with it.
In other news, I started on the Kuhn book for LIS 2000. Not too hard to understand, but definitely hard to plod through. I give it a resounding "...Meh."
According to this guy, it could be. Amazon.com is planning on launching a music-downloading store that sells only DRM-free music, other digital music stores (like eMusic for example) have been successfully selling it for years, and even iTunes is offering music without copy restrictions. I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't own an iPod or use iTunes (whoo Rio Carbon!), so as far as I know, I've actually never dealt with DRM myself, but I can definitely see where people have a problem with it.
In other news, I started on the Kuhn book for LIS 2000. Not too hard to understand, but definitely hard to plod through. I give it a resounding "...Meh."
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Wikilife
Here's something neat: Massive Wikilife project underway
It's called the "Encyclopedia of Life" and it promises to have multimedia pages for 1.8 million identified species of life. Unfortunately, it won't be up and running until mid-2008.
It's called the "Encyclopedia of Life" and it promises to have multimedia pages for 1.8 million identified species of life. Unfortunately, it won't be up and running until mid-2008.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Hi?
So I made this blog thing. I'm not entirely sure about this class yet- I know *of* things like Skype, RSS feeds, FTP, etc, but I've never actually used them myself. I've flipped around the textbook and noticed that I know some of the stuff in it already, so I guess that means I'm off to a good start here. But to be honest, I only ever seem to learn technological stuff by poking and prodding at something until it kinda-sorta work. That, and my dad's a programmer, so I've grown up surrounded by computers and computer stuff.
I'm kinda psyched that one of our assignments involves using Second Life. How many classes grade you for playing a video game? Finally, all of those hours I've spent in front of the TV and computer will be put to good use!
Speaking of video games, that's where my username and blog name/theme comes from. My favorite game is this old Super Nintendo RPG called EarthBound. In EarthBound, you're a normal suburban kid named Ness, and you discover that you not only have psychic powers, but it's your destiny to save the world from an alien invasion. So you grab your baseball bat and head out to travel the world and kick some alien butt. Along the way you meet these little critters called Mr. Saturn (they're all named "Mr. Saturn") who live in Saturn Valley. They give you coffee and build you a time machine, and they like to say random things like "boing!" "zoom!" and "ding!" The first one you come across will greet you by saying "We feel groove!"
So now to ramble a little about me: I live with my family- my parents are letting me stay with them until I finish grad school and can afford my own place. I have a brother who goes to VCU, and we have a golden retriever named Zam, short for "zamboni" because my parents are hockey freaks (our last dog was named Puck). I have a BA in English from Longwood University, which obviously means I love to read. As you might have noticed, I'm a nerd, but I've long since come to terms with that. I also love to draw, though my skills are only slightly about "cartoonish".
We just moved into a new house- my parents have been dying to get a bigger house for years, and since my brother and I are going to be sticking around for a couple more years (sorry mom & dad), we needed the space. Most of my stuff is still packed up in boxes on one side of my room, but hopefully the giant bookcase I ordered should be coming soon and I can finally get organized (organized? what's that?).
I'm kinda psyched that one of our assignments involves using Second Life. How many classes grade you for playing a video game? Finally, all of those hours I've spent in front of the TV and computer will be put to good use!
Speaking of video games, that's where my username and blog name/theme comes from. My favorite game is this old Super Nintendo RPG called EarthBound. In EarthBound, you're a normal suburban kid named Ness, and you discover that you not only have psychic powers, but it's your destiny to save the world from an alien invasion. So you grab your baseball bat and head out to travel the world and kick some alien butt. Along the way you meet these little critters called Mr. Saturn (they're all named "Mr. Saturn") who live in Saturn Valley. They give you coffee and build you a time machine, and they like to say random things like "boing!" "zoom!" and "ding!" The first one you come across will greet you by saying "We feel groove!"
So now to ramble a little about me: I live with my family- my parents are letting me stay with them until I finish grad school and can afford my own place. I have a brother who goes to VCU, and we have a golden retriever named Zam, short for "zamboni" because my parents are hockey freaks (our last dog was named Puck). I have a BA in English from Longwood University, which obviously means I love to read. As you might have noticed, I'm a nerd, but I've long since come to terms with that. I also love to draw, though my skills are only slightly about "cartoonish".
We just moved into a new house- my parents have been dying to get a bigger house for years, and since my brother and I are going to be sticking around for a couple more years (sorry mom & dad), we needed the space. Most of my stuff is still packed up in boxes on one side of my room, but hopefully the giant bookcase I ordered should be coming soon and I can finally get organized (organized? what's that?).
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