Star Trek Interactive Game
"A San Francisco start-up plans to boldly go where no game developer has gone before with an online game based on the cult TV series ‘Star Trek.’
"Perpetual Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it has signed a licensing deal with Viacom Consumer Products, owner of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise. The deal covers the original series and all TV and movie spinoffs.
"The agreement makes Perpetual the latest company looking to tap into the potentially lucrative but troublesome market for widely popular multiplayer online games, PC games that allow players to tap into a large online universe and interact with hundreds of other players.
David Becker. The Servers Cannot Take the Strain, Captain!. News.com. Sept. 7, 2004.
China Cracking Down on Piracy Yet Allowing Blatant Sales
"China on Monday touted the impact of a recent crackdown on pirated goods, seeking to mollify criticism from the United States that it has done little to curb the brazen and widespread sale of such things as illegally copied Hollywood films, fake auto parts and pharmaceuticals.
"At a news conference in Beijing, Zhang Zhigang, a vice minister of commerce, said China seized 2 million compact discs during the first half of the year in raids on 8,000 CD and software dealers around the country, fining violators about $3.6 million.
"The disconnect between the official word from the capital and the actuality of the street highlights the entrenched nature of one of the most nettlesome trade conflicts between Washington and Beijing. Though China is in the midst of one of a series of periodic crackdowns, experts said the continued blatant sales illustrate that the government is more interested in managing the politics of the problem than curbing the reality."
Peter S. Goodman. Pirated Goods Swamp China. WashingtonPost.com. Sept. 7, 2004.
(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)
For Students, iPods Replace Soda
Remember the big controversy a few years ago about high schools and school districts signing revenue deals with Coke, Pepsi and other soft drink companies? The current wave of tech sponsorship may be the natural extension of that trend.
"It’s no secret that college campuses are hotbeds of technology innovation, so it shouldn’t be surprising that universities are among the first to try out new gadgets and applications. Many of these have direct educational benefits–for example, high-speed wireless video offers students the chance to watch a lecture that they couldn’t attend in person.
"But campuses are also beginning to resemble consumer technology marketing labs, with school-backed programs pushing gadgets and services that may have only a tenuous connection to the classroom."
Marguerite Reardon. Big Tech on Campus. News.com. Sept. 6, 2004.
See also:
CNet. Tech Specs of the Top 50 Universities.
Netflix and Tivo Partner to Deliver Digital Entertainment
"Netflix and TiVo are about to join forces making it possible for customers to download movies over the Net to their television. Later this month the companies plan to unveil a simple but significant partnership that could shake up the media world. Subscribers who belong to both services will be able to download their Netflix DVDs over the Internet directly into the TiVo boxes in their homes, instead of receiving them in the mail.
"Hollywood will be watching closely to make sure copyright protections aren’t hacked, which could lead to its biggest nightmare: high-quality versions of its movies released freely onto the Internet.
"Cable customers could prefer the larger Netflix selection and download movies to their TiVo boxes using cable’s own pipes. Unlike the phone companies, which are regulated as ‘common carriers’ and forbidden from discriminating against customers or content, cable firms don’t have to accommodate their rivals’ traffic on their networks. But if cable closes the door to the Netflix downloads, customers could migrate to the phone industry’s broadband offering, DSL."
Brad Stone. I Want a Movie! Now!. Newsweek. Sept. 13, 2004.
Proposal for Free Access to Research
"The National Institutes of Health has proposed a major policy change that would require all scientists who receive funding from the agency to make the results of their research available to the public for free.
"The proposal would mark a significant departure from current practice, in which the scientific journals that publish those results retain control over that information.
"Pressure to make publicly financed research results more available to the public has been building for years but gained new momentum this summer with report language by the House Appropriations Committee.
"’The committee is very concerned that there is insufficient public access to reports and data resulting from NIH-funded research,’ it read. ‘This situation . . . is contrary to the best interests of the U.S. taxpayers who paid for this research.’"
Rick Weiss. NIH Proposes Free Access For Public to Research Data. WashingtonPost.com. Sept. 6, 2004.
See also:
Peter Suber. NIH Open-Access Plan Frequently Asked Questions. Sept. 6, 2004.
Susan Morrissey. NIH Weighs Open Access. Chemical & Engineering News. Sept. 6, 2004.
(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)
BBC May Charge Access Fee
"The BBC may consider offering paid access to its website for overseas users, according to Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s director of new media and technology.
"Speaking to media and technology magazine Digital Lifestyles, Mr Highfield said pay-per-view or pay-per-play options might be possible off the back of the BBC’s Creative Archive project.
"The archive will be an extensive library of BBC radio and TV programmes, available free of charge in the UK for non-commercial use. The first stage of the archive goes live this autumn and will include natural history footage."
Jemima Kiss. Global BBC site Could be Pay Per Play. dotJournalism. Sept. 2, 2004.
Copyright Office Drafts New Version of P2P Bill
"A hotly contested wrangle in Congress over how to outlaw file-swapping networks just took a new twist.
"The U.S. Copyright Office has drafted a new version of the Induce Act that it believes will ban networks like Kazaa and Morpheus while not putting hardware such as portable hard drives and MP3 players on the wrong side of the law.
"The Copyright Office’s four-page ‘discussion draft,’ appears to back away from the broad sweep of the original Induce Act by making it more difficult for companies to be found liable for copyright violations. It says anyone who ‘intentionally induces’ copyright violations can be found liable, with ‘induce’ defined as one or more ‘affirmative, overt acts that are reasonably expected to cause or persuade another person or persons’ to violate copyright law."
Declan McCullagh. Copyright Office Pitches Anti-P2P Bill. News.com. Sept. 2, 2004.
See also:
Mike Godwin. Sept. 3 Letter to Copyright Office Regarding S2560. Public Knowledge. Sept. 3, 2004.
COPYCENSE 