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Comment download does NOT equal loss of sale (Score 4, Insightful) 374

by Soulfarmer (#34152360) Attached to: Porn Maker Sues 7,000+ For Copyright Infringement
"'People don't realize that when you pirate a movie it hurts all of the people who work very hard to get it produced — from the cast to the production assistants to the makeup artists. So we are going after every one of them who pirates our content."

No, it doesn't hurt you. Either I "preview" said film via torrent, maybe, or I don't see it at all. Now, please tell me where is the loss of sale? Oh, hurts.. well maybe that.
Image

Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet During Sex 272

Posted by samzenpus from the nice-feed dept.
When an UK man was asked to be the best man at a friend's wedding he agreed that he would not pull any pranks before or during the ceremony. Now the groom wishes he had extended the agreement to after the blessed occasion as well. The best man snuck into the newlyweds' house while they were away on their honeymoon and placed a pressure-sensitive device under their mattress. The device now automatically tweets when the couple have sex. The updates include the length of activity and how vigorous the act was on a scale of 1-10.
Image

Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight 140

Posted by samzenpus from the a-jetwing-and-a-prayer dept.
Last year we ran the story of Yves Rossy and his DIY jetwings. Yves spent $190,000 and countless hours building a set of jet-powered wings which he used to cross the English Channel. Rossy's next goal is to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, from Tangier in Morocco and Tarifa on the southwestern tip of Spain. From the article: "Using a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon fibre wings spanning over 8ft, he will jump out of a plane at 6,500 ft and cruise at 130 mph until he reaches the Spanish coast, when he will parachute to earth." Update 18:57 GMT: mytrip writes: "Yves Rossy took off from Tangiers but five minutes into an expected 15-minute flight he was obliged to ditch into the wind-swept waters."
Idle

Man Gets 50 Jobs in 50 States in 50 Weeks 4

Posted by samzenpus from the previous-experience-in-everything dept.
Dan Seddiqui has spent the past year fighting a one man war on unemployment. After being unable to get a job and finding himself around $150,000 in debt, Dan came up with a scheme in which he would take a year going state to state and trying out the career that each state was most famous for. His favorite job was bartending in Louisiana during the middle of Mardi Gras, and he would be happy to never work on a lobster boat for the rest of his life. Dan learned a lot about people and the country on his journey. Most importantly he learned that publishers are falling over themselves to get the rights to his book. After writing his memoirs, Dan plans on becoming a dietician, a job that he did for a week while in Mississippi.

Comment Are we or are we not ASKING for ads? (Score 1) 244

by Soulfarmer (#29255861) Attached to: Personalized In-Game Advertising In Upcoming Titles
I wonder how can companies that sell ads to games think that those ads will do what they are supposed to be doing if players do not want those ads in the first place? I personally HATE every kind of ad there is. If I need something I get something. Simple as that. And forcing ads to games I might actually pay, I despise the idea to that way make me also pay for the ads.

I cannot even begin to understand what slim chance of thinking goes thru in-game ad seller's head that makes them think the players would like to PAY to get the ads? I know the reason for the ads is money, but it is like me wondering whether or not a bear would like to stand completely still while I aim it with a rifle.

I will either do my utmost to block ad-servers or then avoid ad-infested games altogether. Even if my only reason would be to keep me from donating money to ad-seller.

I would make ads illegal globally if I had the chance.
Games

Originality Vs. Established IP In Games 71

Posted by Soulskill from the where's-my-known-space-mmo dept.
Ten Ton Hammer has an article about the differences between developing a game based upon existing intellectual property and the creation of an entirely new story and setting. They make the point that while doing the former may result in an easier time building a fan base, those same fans will often be the hardest to please. "By creating a game based on a popular IP, the company in question has a huge responsibility to 'do it right.' Unfortunately, not everyone realizes the reality of one little secret — every single fan out there has a different idea of what 'right' is. ... Lord of the Rings is a perfect example. For a person that may be familiar with the movies and little else, it's a great game with an impressive amount of depth and attention to detail. For the mass of fanatical fans that have spent more time poring over every book Tolkien ever wrote than even Tolkien himself, any deviation from the lore of his world is paramount to sacrilege on the most horrific scale."
Medicine

The Real Story Behind Gaming Addiction 300

Posted by Soulskill from the spotlight-on-black-tar-warcraft dept.
Gamespot is running a feature looking into the facts behind gaming addiction: what it is, whether it exists, and why the need still exists for objective research into the issue. Quoting: "[Richard M. Ryan, a psychologist and professor of psychology, psychiatry, and education at the University of Rochester in New York] thinks the lack of quality research into video game overuse will be rectified with time as games become more sophisticated in the ways they satisfy people's psychological needs. 'We have a lot of people, some in the media and some in the sciences, who are too ready to make very strong claims about video games, whether we are talking about aggression, addiction, or cultural estrangement, based on very little evidence. I think that is especially how the media often sells stories. Some commentators exaggerate risks, and on the other hand there are defenders of games who deny any and all problems and attack any perceived bad news. Games are relatively new in our culture, and such vacillation between hysteria and denial I suspect often greets any new phenomenon, from hip-hop to the Internet to video games. Both sides usually have some part of the truth, but it may be a while before at least we as scientists, much less as a society, have a coherent understanding.'"
Censorship

Chinese Subvert Censorship With a Popular Pun 272

Posted by timothy from the what'dju-say-about-my-mother-horse-hemp-rebuke? dept.
Anonymusing writes "In spoken Chinese, 'grass-mud horse' sounds virtually identical to an obscenity (hint: it begins with "mother-") — and as a cartoon character, it has become an amazing phenomenon. Meant as a subversive attack on censors, the alpaca-like mythical creature has led to a cuddly stuffed animal — selling over 180,000 in a few weeks — and a wildly popular YouTube video with children's voices singing words that are either completely benign or incredibly offensive, depending on how you listen." Update: 03/13 09:29 GMT by T : Since this story was set up, the originally linked video seems to have been pulled. Searching YouTube reveals that there are some alternatives available, at least for now.

Google Propping Up Typosquatting Biz? 279

Posted by Zonk from the i-love-shopping-at-amezon.com dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Google is making oodles of cash placing ads on a vast sea of otherwise vacant Web sites that do little more than capitalize on misspelled domain name names, according to a story in today's Washington Post. From the story: 'Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as BistBuy.com. This new form of advertising is turning into a booming business that some say is cluttering the Internet and could be violating trademark rules.'"

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