Posted 09/06/2009 at 05:56:35pm

I thought the Kindle would be pefect for my Mom because she reads a lot, but she won't get one not only because it's too expensive, but also because then she and her friends can't trade books with each other. That's more important to her than the convenience of the Kindle.

Personally, I think that's why the Kindle will ultimately fail to make a major impact. Part of the culture of many book readers is the lending of books among them. It saves a lot of money and it's an excuse for my Mom and her friends to get together.

Sure, some people will value the convenience Kindle offers, but it's not going to be that attractive to many who just read for pleasure.

Posted 08/21/2009 at 10:08:38am

Eve-Online has published its own monthly magazine, EON, for a couple of years now, and has its own weekly online TV show. I'm frankly amazed that Blizzard, with the player base (and thus the potential readership) of WoW to draw from, has waited this long to start creating OOG media for it.

That Blizzard is starting a magazine about WoW isn't really news. What is news is that it took them this long to get around to it.  

Posted 08/19/2009 at 10:54:06am

Would it be legal to use a copy of Windows intended for sale in the UK on a US computer? Could you register and activate it?

 I don't know all the legal intracacies related to software and digital information, but I do know that in the case of hardware (and consumer electronics in general) merchandise intended to be sold in other countries that's sold in the US illegally (proper tarriffs etc. for imported goods not paid) is called "grey goods". Some of the deep-discount electronics stores that were around and popular in the 80's such as Crazy Eddie and Uncle Steve often carried grey goods which enabled them to offer "We'll beat any price" policies and significantly undercut other retailers pricing on popular items.

This all took place before the rise of the PC, so what I'm talking about here is mainly televisions and high-end audio equipment, but I can't imagine that consumer copies of Windows 7 (that is, the physical merchandise intended for sale in UK stores) would be legal to buy or use in the US because no US taxes or other importation fees are being paid on them. In addition, because of different pricing schemes in different countries I'd expect Microsoft to do whatever it could to prevent such use as well.

That said, I also know these laws have been tweaked a lot since then and I'm not quite sure how it might play out in terms of the illegality of selling or using a physical copy of Windows 7 in a country or region other than it was intended for versus how the law impacts the sale and transfer of the non-physical digital information the physical sale item contains.    

Posted 07/01/2009 at 02:31:47pm

...because after all, Napster did so well after it went legit.

The whole thing is just dumb. While the major media companies are playing whack-a-mole and got this one, five more similar sites will spring up elsewhere to handle the PB traffic that's looking for a new site to download from.

If the major gaming companies really want to put a dent in online piracy, the way to do it is by making their games more affordable in a recession economy, not by going after a site or two or trying to sue middle-class working moms for millions they'll never see. All that does is inspire an even more staunch "us vs them" mentality among those who pirating, and publicly cast efforts to stop online piracy as laughable.

Posted 06/08/2009 at 07:15:07pm

You're exactly right about the way this was written. I'm a former Best Buy employee, and there's no question in my mind that this is legit, not only because it looks like it was pulled directly off the company's employee website, but also because the writing style and format is a perfect example of how BB carefully presents their employee news blurbs in a way that encourages employees to think about certain things the way the company prefers.

Posted 06/03/2009 at 11:15:29am

My new PC, with Vista Home Prem.x64 on it, is due to arrive on Friday, and I've been concerned that I'll get the thing only to have Win7 take over the market a few months later. I hope the discount is reasonable and the access is fair. I'm willing to shell out a little extra for Win7 if it's worth it, but I'm also concerned about being forced to pay twice for an OS in just a few months if I want to upgrade.

Also concerning (and forgive me, I'm still learning, not sure if this is a valid concern or not) is that I'm a gamer and as of right now I have no idea if any (or if so, which) of the PC games currently available will run on Win7.  That would be one thing that would make me pause before making the leap from Vista to Win7.  I hope between MS and you guys, we'll have a good answer on that soon (or if you've already covered it and I missed it, a link would be great).

 In today's economy, software can be every bit as much a real investment as hardware.  I'd suspect there are a lot like me out there who are concerned that an upgrade to Win7 might cost us much more than simply the cost of a new OS, even a discounted one.

Posted 05/06/2009 at 11:00:35am

This kind of faux content cleansing is exactly why there will be a significant increase in the number of hackers figuring out ways to break through I-Phone security and run privately-created apps. And it's why when that does happen a significant percentage of I-Phone users will flock to those apps.

Basically what Apple is doing here is giving users who want adult content on their mobile devices yet another reason to go out of their way to avoid going through Apple for it.

Sony said the PSP was unhackable. They learned. Apple will too. If you don't give your users what they want, they'll find a way to get it despite your wishes and despite whatever security you might have to prevent it.