The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia
Faculty of ArtsFoundations of Digital Media
  • Course Stream
  • News of the Week
  • Journey
  • Forum
  • Videos & Notes
  • Current Syllabus
    • 2019 Syllabus
    • 2017/18 Syllabus
  • About
    • Jon’s Bio
  • Welcome Cohort 1, UBC Foundations of Digital Media

    Welcome to the website for the UBC flavour of Foundations of Digital Media. Am excited to meet you tomorrow and evolve this course together. The course has been taught in various forms at the Centre for Digital Media for a decade. Hardly an old dog, but nevertheless there are new tricks to be had. Let’s […] Read More

News of Week; January 8, 2020

By Jon Festinger on January 12, 2020

DIGITAL

  1. Russia Disconnects Itself From The Internet, Asks UN To Let It Have More Control Of Internet Usage Around The World
  2. Academic Publishers Get Their Wish: DOJ Investigating Sci-Hub Founder For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence
  3. U.S. Army Bans TikTok On Government Phones, Calling App A “Cyber Threat”
  4. China strengthens regulation of online audiovisual services
  5. Amazon threatens to fire critics who are outspoken on its environmental policies: E-commerce giant warned workers who participated in protests that future comments regarding business practices could lead to termination
  6. Oracle copied Amazon’s API—was that copyright infringement?
  7. Turns Out Oracle Copied Amazon’s S3 APIs; When Confronted, Pretends That’s Different (Spoiler Alert: It’s Not)
  8. Amazon partners with India’s second largest retailer to sell its goods online
  9. EU top court rules out possibility to create second-hand marketplaces for digital content
  10. Judge awards women $13 million in massive lawsuit against GirlsDoPorn
  11. New Civil FOSTA Lawsuits Push Expansive Legal Theories Against Unexpected Defendants
  12. Minnesota Appeals Court Nukes State’s Broadly-Written Revenge Porn Law
  13. It’s the network, stupid: Study offers fresh insight into why we’re so divided: Social perception bias might simply be an emergent property of our social networks.
  14. The FTC’s 2020 COPPA rules have YouTube creators scared
  15. YouTube decides it’s easier to treat all watchers of kids’ content as kids
  16. SCOTUS Grants Google’s Cert Petition in Oracle API Dispute
  17. Java API Classes as Fictional Characters – A Proposal for Google v. Oracle
  18. Court (Barely) Allows Class Action Lawsuit Over Google’s Location Tracking To Move Forward
  19. Google’s Ad Network Prepares for the California Consumer Privacy Act
  20. Researchers unearth malicious Google Play apps linked to active exploit hackers
  21. Apple targets jailbreaking in lawsuit against iOS virtualization company
  22. Apple’s app sales hit record $1.4 billion in the final days of 2019: App Store spending on the first day of 2020 reached US$386 million, a single-day record and a 20 per cent increase from last year
  23. Apple and GPU-maker Imagination make nice in new licensing deal
  24. Text and data mining under the digital copyright directive
  25. Sonos’ Wasteful ‘Recycle Mode’ Bricks Perfectly Usable Tech
  26. Films are quietly disappearing from Disney Plus: Movies like Home Alone and Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides have vanished from the streaming service
  27. Disney Plus removes some films from service with no explanation: Users noticed a handful of titles went missing from the streaming library as soon as 2020 began
  28. Disney+ Titles Disappear Without Warning, Bringing Confusion To The Streaming Wars
  29. Here’s Why Some of Your Favorite Movies Are Disappearing from Disney Plus
  30. Twitter Blocks Animated PNGs After A Bunch Of Shitbirds Spend National Epilepsy Month Harassing Epileptics
  31. Twitter will put options to limit replies directly on the compose screen
  32. YouTube officially rolls out changes to children’s content following FTC settlement
  33. YouTube Disables More Product Features On Kid-Oriented Content After FTC Settlement
  34. New Tool Enables YouTubers To Snip Sections Of Videos That Have Been Copyright Claimed
  35. ‘Justin Bieber: Seasons’ Is Reportedly YouTube’s Most Expensive Original Ever
  36. In 2019, WWE Uploaded 500 YouTube Videos Per Month—Making A Reported $13 Million In AdSense
  37. Control and Influencers: ASA bans Love Island star Molly Mae Hague’s Instagram post
  38. UK Advertising Standards Authority Bans Unlicensed E-Cigarette Instagram Posts
  39. “Naked Philanthropist” Kaylen Ward Has Raised $700K For Bushfire Relief By Sending Nudes
  40. Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul “Taking A Break,” Potentially Leaving MTV Collab In The Lurch
  41. Jake Paul Sets Second Boxing Match With Gamer ‘AnEsonGib’, Streaming On DAZN From Miami
  42. Michelle Obama To Launch College Docuseries On IGTV, ‘A Year Of Firsts’
  43. Facing the Music: Protecting Photography in the Age of Instagram
  44. Snapchat To Introduce ‘Bitmoji TV’, Fully-Animated Cartoons Starring Users’ Bitmojis
  45. Spotify will use everything it knows about you to target podcast ads: One step closer to becoming a podcast ad network
  46. Insights: Two Months In, Apple TV+ And Disney+ Hit The Churn Zone
  47. Apple hires former HBO chief to produce TV, film, and documentaries exclusively for Apple TV Plus: Richard Plepler signs a five-year contract with Apple
  48. Apple Shares Top $300 Amid Optimism About Holiday Sales
  49. Disappointing: Apple The Latest To Abuse DMCA 1201 To Try To Stifle Competition, Security Research, Jailbreaking And More
  50. Apple reunites with iPhone graphics chip partner to license technology: The company split with Imagination Technologies back in 2017
  51. CES has never been great for women. Is 2020 the year that changes?: Keynotes or he-notes?
  52. IRS drops longstanding promise not to compete against TurboTax
  53. How modern tech has powered our favorite superheroes through the years
  54. This time, for sure! Ars Technica’s 2020 Deathwatch
  55. In This Time Of Techlash, It’s Important To Remember That Sometimes Social Media Is Actually Good
  56. Goop’s Netflix trailer: Paltrow sinks into a vagina, spews pseudoscience
  57. Can you resell an e-book online?
  58. Redistributing E-Books Online Constitutes Copyright Infringement, Says Top EU Court
  59. Troublesome Emojis in Criminal Cases
  60. Tired of hearing about Wi-Fi 6? Great, let’s talk about Wi-Fi 6E
  61. Top Internet Law Developments of 2019 (Eric Goldman)

A.I.

  1. New Study Suggests That YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Isn’t The Tool Of Radicalization Many People Believe (At Least Not Any More)
  2. The US just released 10 principles that it hopes will make AI safer: All future AI regulations will need to clear the checklist.
  3. EU Patent Office Rejects Two Patent Applications In Which An AI Was Designated As The Inventor
  4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patents – Will the Patent Office Change the Rules?
  5. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Takes on Artificial Intelligence
  6. WIPO Releases Draft Issues Paper on IP Policy for AI Inventions
  7. Ex Parte Linden Gives a Boost to the Subject Matter Eligibility of AI inventions
  8. USPTO Designates Ex Parte Linden as an Informative § 101 PTAB Decision
  9. NextMind Unveils $400 Brain-Computer Interface Developer Kit
  10. Video: Valve’s perspective on brain-computer interfaces in games
  11. European Law Enforcement Officials Upset Facebook Is Warning Users Their Devices May Have Been Hacked
  12. Facebook is banning (most) deepfakes: The policy doesn’t cover videos doctored using more conventional techniques.
  13. Facebook Says It Will Ban ‘Deepfakes’: The company said it would remove videos altered by artificial intelligence in ways meant to mislead viewers.
  14. Facebook bans deepfakes, but new policy may not cover controversial Pelosi video
  15. Welcome to the age of uncertainty: If everything can be faked, how can we know anything is real?
  16. European Union – Algorithmic Pricing under Article 101 TFEU
  17. Snap Acquires Ukraine Startup ‘AI Factory,’ Which Helped Build Its ‘Cameos’ Feature, For $166 Million
  18. Snap Confirms Acquisition of Deepfakes Startup AI Factory, Used to Power ‘Cameos’ Selfie Videos 

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Notice of Violation: Orcus Technologies: Investigation Into The Orcus Rat
  2. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2019 Year in Review
  3. Merger Lawsuit Docs Reveal T-Mobile Eyed Merging With Comcast
  4. FCC Seeks Comment on Designations of Huawei and ZTE as National Security Threats
  5. AT&T et al. fight against higher upload speeds in $20-billion FCC program
  6. There’s A Recurring Theme With 5G, And It’s Disappointment
  7. US finally prohibits ISPs from charging for routers they don’t provide
  8. NYC broadband plan calls for fiber everywhere, with ISPs sharing network
  9. TV Ratings Sag As Cord Cutting Continues To Surge

PRIVACY

  1. Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s help
  2. No, cops aren’t using SiriusXM to find criminals. Here’s how they do it
  3. Department of Homeland Security Warns of Cyber-attacks by Iran
  4. Unpatched US government website gets pwned by pro-Iran script kiddie
  5. Iran courted US security expert for years, seeking industrial hacking training
  6. There Is No ‘Going Dark:’ Always-On Surveillance Posing Risks To US Covert Operations
  7. Florida Appeals Court Asks State’s Top Court To Decide Whether Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
  8. Ring Sued Because ‘Taking Customers’ Security Seriously’ Means Selling Easily-Hijacked Cameras
  9. “Cache issue” causes Xiaomi cameras to show other people’s camera feeds
  10. Wyze Breach Leaves Data Of 2.4 Million Users Exposed Online
  11. Unpatched VPN makes Travelex latest victim of “REvil” ransomware
  12. Firefox gets patch for critical 0-day that’s being actively exploited
  13. Firefox 72 blocks fingerprinting scripts by default, rethinks notification pop-ups
  14. Chrome to start blocking annoying notification requests
  15. UL Pushes Security Standards For The Internet Of Broken Things
  16. ENISA releases report detailing security guidelines for Internet of Things
  17. BitTorrent claims require more proof than an IP address to name a defendant
  18. Jones Day Global Privacy & Cybersecurity Update

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1. What the amendments to the USMCA mean for Canadian IP law
  2. 2019 Highlights in Canadian Life Sciences IP and Regulatory Law
  3. Appeals Court Smacks Down Patent Troll Blackbird, Orders It To Pay $363k In Attorneys Fees To Company It Sued
  4. In flashpoint for the rebellion against big tech, Sonos sues Google for patent infringement
  5. Securing Copyright and Trademark Rights for Broadcasts and Promotions Related to NFL Championship Games and Super Bowl LIV (54)
  6. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue Is In The Public Domain And Gerswhin’s Nephew Is Worried Someone Might Turn It Into Hip Hop
  7. The Murkiness of the Public Domain
  8. Tackling bad faith registration of domain names in a fast-changing landscape
  9. Fox Factory v. SRAM – According to CAFC, No Presumption of Nexus for Bicycle Chainring Patents; IPR Decision Reversed and Remanded
  10. The big IP stories you will be reading about in 2020

CREATIVITY

  1. Chinese Skiers Training In Norway Ask Local Library To Remove ‘Controversial’ Books
  2. Turkey Continues Its Attempt To Pass China In The ‘Most Journalists Jailed’ Category
  3. Ex-Fox News reporter Courtney Friel claims Donald Trump invited her to Trump Tower to ‘kiss’
  4. Susan J. Demas: Why are there so few stories about Trump’s health and sexual harassment scandals?
  5. Class action lawsuits may be available for copyright infringement cases in some instances
  6. Devin Nunes Libel Tourism Continues To Highlight The Problems Of Virginia’s Weak Anti-SLAPP Laws
  7. Connecticut Cop Sues Local Blogger To Get Him To Turn Over Personal Info On Commenters Who Said Thing The Cop Didn’t Like
  8. Hank Haney Sues PGA Tour, Claims They Forced SiriusXM to Cancel His Radio Show
  9. Navy SEAL Leader Accused Of War Crimes Threatens Defamation Suit Against NY Times Reporter For Revealing Videos & Text Of Men Who Reported Him
  10. Academic paper in comic form explores ethics of treating torturer with PTSD

GAMES

  1. Nintendo wins injunction against seller of Switch mod, pirated games: Defendent allegedly also sold modded NES Classic with over 800 games
  2. Nintendo Responds To RomUniverse’s Lame Argument That First Sale Doctrine Makes The Site Non-Infringing
  3. Crytek wants to dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen developers
  4. Crytek seeks to dismiss its own Star Citizen lawsuit until Squadron 42 launches: Creator of CryEngine believes Star Citizen’s single-player game will be delayed past June, moves for October trial
  5. CD Projekt signs new agreement and ends dispute with The Witcher author: The game developer has the rights to the IP in video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise
  6. Take 2 Sues Fan Over Project To Finally Bring ‘Red Dead 1’ To The PC
  7. Ragnarok acquires Rune II source code and assets following legal complaint
  8. Rune II source code returned to publisher: More than a month after launch, Ragnarok Game LLC may have what it needs to update game left in limbo by demise of Human Head
  9. Case Update: Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd. v. 3D Realms Entertainment ApS
  10. Labor union CWA takes steps to organize game workers
  11. Campaign to organise industry backed by major US communications union: Communication Workers of America allies with Game Workers Unite on new campaign to unite tech and gaming sector
  12. Rockstar Spouse and the slow change of culture – 10 Years Ago This Month: Red Dead Redemption and its sequel both had crunch controversies, but the studio’s reactions show some change in thinking
  13. Tackling online abuse in the games industry is “not optional” – 2019 in Review: “Whatever the platforms are doing, we’ve got to behave as if the cavalry is not coming,” says digital security expert
  14. Escape from Tarkov dev says no playable women because of lore, “huge amount of work” required: Statement made in an effort to walk back three-year-old comment that war was only for “hardened men”
  15. WWE 2K20 crashes because it’s 2020, and no, that’s not a joke: This Y2K bug can be called “Crash Jericho.”
  16. Record $120.1 billion earned by games and interactive media in 2019: Superdata report shows $4 out of every $5 spent on digital games goes on free-to-play titles
  17. Number of adults over age 50 playing games regularly is on the rise: More older adults prefer puzzle and logic games, and most are playing on phones and tablets
  18. If History Repeats, Video Game Stocks Could Soar 690%+
  19. UK video game sales drop for the first time since 2012: Physical sales plunge as digital growth slows
  20. Analyst: Free-to-play games pushed digital game spend over $109 billion in 2019
  21. The number of Steam releases remained relatively flat from 2018 to 2019
  22. These are the highest grossing Steam games of 2019 
  23. Major slowdown of new releases on Steam last year
  24. Only two of the biggest Steam games in 2019 were new releases: “Sekiro Shadows Die Twice” and “Total War Three Kingdoms” manage to secure a place in platform’s highest grossers
  25. The Witcher 3 hits new peak player record on Steam in wake of Netflix show
  26. Amazon’s best-selling games of 2019 dominated by gift cards and Switch: Top three items were digital currency, 22 of top 50 products were for Nintendo’s console
  27. On Christmas, mobile game spending reached $210 million: Sensor Tower accounted for 76% of all mobile in-app spending that day
  28. UK Charts: Call of Duty retains No.1 as Brain Training Switch makes Top 20
  29. It’s FIFA 20’s ninth week at No.1 in EMEAA
  30. Twitter reveals which games dominated the online chatter in 2019
  31. Square Enix eyes potential of XR, blockchain, and cloud gaming in 2020
  32. Blizzard signs three-year deal with ESL, Dreamhack: StarCraft II World Championship Series is being retired as Blizzard commits to ESL Pro Tours for StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged
  33. League of Legends professional Maria ‘Remilia’ Creveling dies at 24: In 2015, Creveling became the first woman to compete in the League of Legends Championship Series
  34. Destiny’s Sword presents a double-edged dilemma: 2Dogs’ Ken Hall talks about dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and addiction in a strategy MMO intended to be fun first and foremost
  35. 2K Games resolves New Year bug in WWE 2K20: Y2K-style error rendered game unplayable as 2019 ended
  36. Pokemon Go: Documents show Canadian military’s struggle with game
  37. Final Fantasy VII Remakedemo has leaked, is packed with teases, spoilers
  38. PlayStation VR sales have topped 5 million units worldwide
  39. 5 Million PlayStation VR Units Sold, Sony Announces: PSVR continues to sell but slows in light of Quest and newer headsets
  40. How Sony’s PlayStation 2 took the world by storm
  41. Sony reveals PlayStation 5 logo, touts PlayStation 4 sales milestones
  42. Feelreal VR Scent Mask Hits Roadblock Amidst Crackdown on Flavored Vaping Products
  43. Subscriptions: When are auto-renewals fair game? | Opinion – As the CMA investigates the use of subscriptions in video games, legal experts at Lewis Silkin offer advice on best practices`
  44. Nexon sells off mobile dev Gloops for a single yen
  45. From licensing to lunch: How to work with Chinese partners – Unit 2 Games’ Hannah Waddilove on some of the less-discussed aspects of targeting the world’s largest games market
  46. Simplified Chinese is now the dominant language among Steam users: Chinese users flock to Steam as platform provides more localised experience and uncensored games
  47. Uncharted movie loses sixth director: Travis Knight leaves project over crunch and scheduling conflicts with lead actor
  48. Don’t Miss: How classic games make smart use of random number generation
  49. Breaking linear character progression with Outer Worlds’ flaw system
  50. Superhot VR grossed over $2 million in the final weeks of 2019
  51. Untitled Goose Game has topped 1 million sales in three months
  52. Here are your finalists for the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards!
  53. Death Stranding leads the pack of 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards nominees
  54. Team 17 acquires UK studio Yippee Entertainment for $1.85 million
  55. At 10 million players, Xbox calls Sea of Thieves its most successful new IP this gen
  56. Team17 acquires Yippee Entertainment for £1.4m: Developer behind Chimpact and Commandos 2 remaster will work on new IP, plus brands owned by Worms firm and its partners
  57. Razer applies for digital bank licence in Singapore, proposes ‘youth bank’: Gaming accessories firm will take 60% stake in company and is leading a consortium of partners to bolster its bid
  58. Clever design, lack of Bluetooth make Razer’s new phone gamepad a winner
  59. Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device
  60. Alienware’s handheld Concept UFO PC takes cues from the Nintendo Switch
  61. Report: Rumors suggest a new Switch model is due out this year
  62. Fantasy Flight Interactive to close after company-wide layoffs
  63. Platinum Games will use Tencent investment to ‘explore self-publishing’
  64. Legal issues a new game studio should consider
  65. Dead Cells Steam owners can now play previous versions of the game: The studio introduces the ability to roll-back the game to previous iterations
  66. Report: Amazon’s Twitch Not Meeting Ad Revenue Expectations
  67. The Last of Us director Bruce Straley on ludonarrative dissonance
  68. Video blog: Historians discuss Assassin’s Creed II
  69. Blog: Luring players with gratification
  70. Blog: How Disco Elysium’s interjections turn information into gameplay
  71. Blog: Game accessibility quotes of 2019
  72. Blog: 3 disruptive game design trends to look out for in 2020
  73. Analysts dole out 2020 predictions: Panel of industry watchers call their shots for the upcoming year in games (and assess how their 2019 calls turned out)
  74. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Kris Graft’s top 10 games
  75. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 game developers of the year
  76. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 games of the year 
  77. Games of the Year 2019: Our favourite games of the year ranged from epic adventures to innovative indie games – plus a couple of Switch hits
  78. The Universim developer Crytivo donating two months’ revenues to Australian bushfire relief
  79. U.S. Patent no. 10,275,947: Modifying a simulated character by direct manipulation

Jon

Read More | No Comments

Class #1 2020 cohort

By Jon Festinger on January 6, 2020

Slides below…

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; January 1, 2020

By Jon Festinger on January 5, 2020

DIGITAL

  1. European Court of Justice’s Landmark Decision on the Resale of E-Books
  2. U.S. Internet Access Provider Hit with a Billion Dollar Verdict for Copyright Infringement by its Subscribers
  3. Internet Access Provider Gets Another Devastating Result in a Secondary Copyright Infringement Case – Sony v. Cox (Eric Goldman)
  4. Huuuge Mistake in Contract Formation
  5. A Lost Gamble on Enforcement of Electronic Terms and Conditions in a Browsewrap Agreement
  6. Internet Access Provider Gets Another Devastating Result in a Secondary Copyright Infringement Case—Sony v. Cox (Eric Goldman)
  7. Federal Circuit Decides Apple’s Invalidity Challenges Were Properly Litigated; Are Precluded
  8. Sour Note: Mraz Sues MillerCoors for ‘I’m Yours’ Clip in Instagram Ad
  9. Doctor’s Promotion of ‘Vampire Facial’ a Pain in Kim Kardashian’s Neck
  10. FTC Approves Settlement with Former Cambridge Analytica CEO and Application Developer Over Claims of Deceiving Consumers
  11. Amid Ongoing ‘Explore’ Tab Tests, YouTube Makes ‘Creator On The Rise’ Shelves More Prominent
  12. Facebook Wants To License Official Music Videos — A Massive Draw On YouTube
  13. YouTube Takes Down Chanukkah Parody Of Old Town Road… Because It Infringes On A Date?
  14. Why the 2010s were the Facebook Decade
  15. Turkish Court Says Government’s Two-Year Ban Of Wikipedia Violates Freedom Of Expression Rights
  16. Driver training was reportedly too much of “a bottleneck” for Amazon
  17. Spotify will ‘pause’ political ads in early 2020: The platform says it does not have the capability to ‘responsibly validate’ ad content
  18. Spotify Says “No” to Political Advertising
  19. Cloudflare Removes Warrant Canary: Thoughtful Post Says It Can No Longer Say It Hasn’t Removed A Site Due To Political Pressure
  20. CMA seeks new regulatory regime to regulate online platforms
  21. “They’re abysmal students”: Are cell phones destroying the college classroom?
  22. Travis Kalanick quits Uber’s board, sells off all his Uber stock
  23. NYTimes Predicted San Francisco Would ‘Drown In Millionaires’ Post IPO Boom; Now Whines That It Never Happened
  24. NIST digitized the bullets that killed JFK
  25. GPS is going places
  26. 88% of Americans use a second screen while watching TV. Why?
  27. No foolin‘—the 2010s were a crazy decade for tech
  28. New Year’s Message: Opportunities Come From Unexpected Places

A.I.

  1. Enhanced Intelligence, VR Sex, and Our Cyborg Future: Recent progress in AI, many believe, makes the promise and peril of transhumanism increasingly possible.
  2. NIST Study Of 189 Facial Recognition Algorithms Finds Minorities Are Misidentified Almost 100 Times More Often Than White Men
  3. Counting the Countless: Why data science is a profound threat for queer people
  4. How AI helps unlock the secrets of Old Master and modernist paintings
  5. Attack of the terrifying robot vacuum
  6. Data Science as Political Action Grounding Data Science in a Politics of Justice (Ben Green)
  7. The Second Wave of Algorithmic Accountability (Frank Pasquale) 

COMMUNICATIONS  

  1.  Court backs Comcast, puts Maine’s à la carte cable law on hold
  2. Court Blocks Maine Attempt To Force Cable Providers To Sell Individual TV Channels
  3. New Law Finally Bans B.S. Cable TV Fees
  4. DOJ Antitrust Boss Delrahim Ignored Hard Data As He Rubber Stamped T-Mobile Merger
  5. Wired for sound: How SIP won the VoIP protocol wars
  6. FCC Postpones Filing Deadline for First Annual Children’s Television Programming Report and Announces Effectiveness of Other Changes in Children’s Television Rules

PRIVACY

  1. IoT vendor Wyze confirms server leak: Details for 2.4 million users were exposed online for 22 days.
  2. Employee error to blame for massive data leak, Wyze says
  3. Tracking College Students Everywhere They Go On Campus Is The New Normal
  4. Survey of Fortune 500 Companies’ Privacy Representations
  5. NAI Issues New Guidance on Consumer Opt-In Consent for Sharing of “Sensitive” Data
  6. SEC reminds public companies to assess technology and IP theft risks when preparing their disclosures
  7. The 2019 Privacy Legislation Bomb Cyclone

CREATIVITY

  1. UK Metropolitan Police Admit They’ve Finally Shelved ‘Investigation’ Into Journalists Who Reported On Snowden Docs
  2. Federal Court Blocks Unconstitutional Arkansas Law That Prevents Plant-Based Food Companies From Using Meat Words
  3. Chris Cornell’s Widow Sues Soundgarden for Copyrights to Unreleased Songs
  4. No Apologies: Marc Jacobs Pushes Back on Nirvana’s Copyright and Trademark Infringement Claims
  5. Washington Court Says Local Pot Dealers Can Hang Up Christmas Lights That Spell ‘POT’
  6. Austrian Hotel Drops Libel Lawsuit Against Guest Who Complained About Pictures Of Nazis In The Lobby
  7. Too Funny to Be Believed? NAD Says No.
  8. IP Alert: Copyright Course Correction of the Year
  9. Right of Publicity Punch: Bruce Lee Enterprises Sues Kungfu Catering
  10. Trump could mandate free access to federally funded research papers
  11. The 2010s were a veritable golden age of opening credits in television
  12. TV Technica 2019: These were our favorite shows and binges this year
  13. Journalists under siege around the world: The global assault on journalists continued unabated in 2019.
  14. Ars Technica’s best films of 2019
  15. 2019 – The Copyright Year
  16. The 2020 Intellectual Property Year in “Preview” Article

GAMES

  1. Running Man Stars Suing Epic Games for Fortnite Dance
  2. Fortnite Lawsuit a Battle Over Jack-o’-Lantern Figures
  3. Corinna Kopf Leaving Twitch to Stream Exclusively on Facebook Gaming
  4. Blog: Scalable content management with Unity addressables
  5. The one video game my kids played all year long
  6. How much of a genius-level move was using binary space partitioning in Doom?
  7. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the final No.1 of the year – Official charts to change suppliers in 2020 and to include a digital chart
  8. Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers
  9. U.S. Patent no. 10,272,346: Bounded competitions in a video game framework
  10. The 2010s were full of video games we’ll gladly revisit for decades to come
  11. Best of 2019: How Steam users see your game
  12. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: 8 standout Apple Arcade games
  13. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Bryant Francis’ Top 10 Games
  14. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Chris Kerr’s Top 5 Games
  15. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Alissa McAloon’s top 5 games (from 2018’s backlog)

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; December 25, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 31, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. FTC Rules Political Ad Marketing Firm Cambridge Analytica Deceived Facebook Users
  2. FTC Approves Final Settlement Agreements Concerning Collection of Facebook Data
  3. Facebook vs. the FTC: It’s Not Over Till It’s Over
  4. 267 Million Names And Phone Numbers Leaked Online – And They’re All From Facebook
  5. Facebook removes accounts with AI-generated profile photos
  6. Facebook is working on its own OS that could reduce its reliance on Android
  7. Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook: CJEU ruling on online defamation and liability of hosting services providers under the e-Commerce Directive
  8. Schrems v Facebook: AG says Standard Contractual Clauses are Valid
  9. Facebook Releases New Advertising Rules for the 2020 Census
  10. ‘I am going to say quiet words in your face just like I did with Trump’: a conversation with the Zuckerbot -Mark Zuckerberg won’t talk to the Guardian. So we fed everything he says into an algorithm, and interviewed it
  11. Sorry, but cryptocurrency will likely make you uncomfortable in 2020: It might even piss you off.: Thanks, Libra.
  12. Financializing authoritarian capitalism: Chinese fintech and the institutional foundations of algorithmic governance (Julian Gruin)
  13. Beyond scandal?: Blockchain technologies and the fragile legitimacy of post-2008 finance
  14. Swiping right: face perception in the age of Tinder
  15. Cox Communications hit with $1 billion verdict over music piracy
  16. Dear Americans: Be Very, Very Afraid Of The EU’s New Copyright Rules
  17. Inside the Koch data mine: Meet the guys building the right’s new machine.
  18. The Surprising Nuance Behind the Russian Troll Strategy: We set out to study #BlackLivesMatter – instead, we were unintentionally learning about the Russian information operation to undermine democracy
  19. The case for publicly enforced online rights: Democracies should establish a single infrastructure for the digital identity (Evgeny Morozov)
  20. New German draft law to fight online hate speech obliges social media providers to notify police of suspicious online posts
  21. ECJ rules that the sale of second-hand e-books infringes copyright
  22. Indian Government Sets New Record For ‘Internet Shutdown By A Democracy’
  23. Canadian ISPs Subject to Site-Blocking Order
  24. Competition Bureau Hones in on #SponsoredContent and Social Media Advertising
  25. Losing Streak Continues For Litigants Suing Social Media Companies Over Violence Committed By Terrorists
  26. Report: Apple is developing satellites so the iPhone can skip wireless carriers
  27. Apple, Google, and Amazon create “CHIP,” a new smart home standard [Updated]
  28. Accountability Is Nowhere To Be Found For Foxconn’s Wisconsin Head Fake
  29. Google fined ~$166 million by France over search ads
  30. Chrome is getting a dedicated media control button
  31. The Canadian Digital Law Decade: The Ten Most Notable Cases, Laws, and Policy Developments (Michael Geist)
  32. CJEU rules that the provision of ebooks is an act of communication to the public (so there is NO digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive) (Eleonora Rosati)
  33. Study: Hadopi Has Been Great For Big Artists And Labels, Bad For The Spread Of Culture And Smaller Or New Artists
  34. Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software to ensure he’d get new work
  35. The Hassle of Housework: Digitalisation and the Commodification of Domestic Labour (Ursula Huws)
  36. Insanity (AKA Copyright Statutory Damages) Rules: Cox Hit With $1 Billion (With A B) Jury Verdict For Failing To Magically Stop Piracy
  37. Ghosh Yoga College Claims Copyright Infringement Over Netflix Documentary On Bikram Choudhury
  38. Dethroning the Digital Platform Champions
  39. Elon Musk And SpaceX Just Backed Down From Earlier Promise To Release SpaceX Photos To The Public Domain
  40. Jake Paul Sued For Copyright Infringement Over 2017 Holiday Track “Litmas”
  41. Influencers face backlash for promoting a Saudi Arabian music festival: And were reportedly paid six-figure sums
  42. ‘Influencing is heading into the void’: Natasha Stagg and Kate Durbin on the future of social media
  43. Tana Mongeau Lands ‘Here Comes Tana Claus’ YouTube Special At MTV
  44. Want to Become A World-Famous YouTube Personality? Don’t Forget the Fine Print
  45. Under the Influence: The Canadian Competition Bureau’s Stand on Misleading Product Endorsements
  46. Cameron Dallas To Star As Aaron Samuels In Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Mean Girls’
  47. Latte Lover Emma Chamberlain To Launch Her Own Coffee Business This Sunday
  48. In Just 55 Days, MrBeast And Mark Rober’s #TeamTrees Raised $20 Million To Plant 20 Million Trees
  49. Influencer marketing must be accurate and based on actual experience, says Competition Bureau
  50. #InfluencerMarketing and #Transparency in #Ads: Competition Bureau Sends Letters to Brands and Agencies
  51. How to Decrease Your Influencer Marketing Legal Risk
  52. Pixel Perfect: The Legal Implications of Virtual Influencers and Supermodels
  53. For Beauty Influencer Campaigns, YouTube Delivers
  54. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
  55. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
  56. Australian Millionaire Seeking Personal Instagram Photographer, At $55,000 Salary
  57. Instagram Announces Restrictions on Branded Content and Says Further Policies are Coming
  58. All Def Digital’s Assets Acquired, Content Slate To Be Rebooted By Startup Culture Genesis
  59. Not so IDLE hands: FBI program offers companies data protection via deception
  60. I went undercover as an Amazon delivery driver. Here’s what I learned about the hidden costs of free shipping
  61. Motorola gets cold feet, delays $1,500 Razr foldable days before launch
  62. Leaked images of new Samsung foldable surfaces: It’s a flip phone
  63. Is Your Website Accessible and Are You Liable if it Isn’t?
  64. Social Media Made America Tired of Rich People: It used to be easier to hide your wine cave.
  65. The 84 Biggest Flops, Fails, And Dead Dreams Of The Decade In Tech
  66. Tech regulation and protecting children online; latest thinking from the UK
  67. Reflections on 2019 in Technology Law, and a Peek into 2020
  68. Tech & Comms 2020 Predictions

A.I.

  1. World Intellectual Property Organization Weighs in on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property
  2. World Intellectual Property Organisation and UK Information Commissioner’s Office announce consultations on AI
  3. Patents Created by Artificial Intelligence?
  4. EPO refuses DABUS patent applications designating a machine inventor
  5. Towards a Critical Race Methodology in Algorithmic Fairness (Alex Hanna, Emily Denton, Andrew Smart & Jamila Smith-Loud)
  6. 2019 Quantified Self Report Card
  7. Artificial Intelligence Is Rushing Into Patient Care – And Could Raise Risks: AI systems are not as rigorously tested as other medical devices, and have already made serious mistakes
  8. Is the idea of ‘care robots’ an oxymoron?: Pursuing efficiency by seeking to dehumanise human interaction by use of robotic support is a worrying development
  9. United States – E-commerce and Big Data: Merger Control
  10. Intervention – “Is Legal Technology a New ‘Moment’ in the Law and Development Trajectory?”
  11. Do all marketing lists discriminate against consumers that exercise a right to be deleted?
  12. Why I dislike what “quantum supremacy” is doing to computing research
  13. Can Computers Dream? Refik Anadol Explores The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Anadadol’s installation at Light Art Space explores how our world will transform as humans and computers come closer together.  

COMMUNICATIONS

  1.  Touchdown! The Supreme Court of Canada simplifies the standard of review analysis in historic Super Bowl trilogy
  2. Supreme Court of Canada Establishes New Approach to Standard of Review 
  3. Phone companies must block scam calls starting today. Here’s what you can expect
  4. Congress Passes Bipartisan Robocall Legislation
  5. Congress passes legislation expanding robocall penalties
  6. T-Mobile/Sprint deal is good actually, Feds tell court in states’ lawsuit
  7. Spectrum Customers Stuck With Thousands In Home Security Gear They Can’t Use
  8. TV changed a lot in the 2010s, and the decade’s best reflects that
  9. What’s New in 5G – December 2019
  10. FCC Announces Improved Wireless Emergency Alerts 
  11. Supreme Court Declines to Overturn Landmark TCPA Jury Verdict
  12. GDPR and the Cloud – Helpful DPC Guidance for Organisations 

PRIVACY

  1. Data Protection Changes Are Coming to Canada
  2. Nearly 4,000 Ring Credentials Leaked, Including Users’ Time Zones And Device Names
  3. NY Times Shows The Scope Of The Cell Location Data Scandal Nobody’s Doing Anything About
  4. San Francisco Amends Facial Recognition Ban After Realizing City Employees Could No Longer Use Smartphones
  5. Second Circuit Says Warrantless Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections Might Violate The Fourth Amendment
  6. Update privacy policies post-tech backlash, report tells smart watch and fitness tracker makers
  7. PoS malware skimmed convenience store customers’ card data for 8 months
  8. Dark Overlord taunted, threatened, and extorted. Now alleged member is behind bars
  9. The California Consumer Privacy Act Is Upon Us; Here’s What Your Company Should Be Doing
  10. Hospitality company’s bid to dismiss data breach suit rejected
  11. Attorney General issues opinion on validity of Privacy Shield and Model clauses
  12. Austria’s Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones, Nor Collect Vehicle And Driver Information Covertly
  13. Top EU Court’s Adviser Says Personal Data Can Be Transferred Using ‘Standard Contractual Clauses’ — But Also Suggests That Privacy Shield Should Be Ruled Invalid
  14. Giant surveillance balloons are lurking at the edge of space
  15. The Internet of Things (IoT) will see an increase in regulation and self-regulation
  16. How many websites are using opt-in, opt-out, or deemed consent cookie notices?
  17. How many third party behavioral advertising cookies deploy on most websites?
  18. Is Your Privacy Policy Ready for 2020?
  19. When We Fail To Understand Privacy As A Set Of Trade-Offs, Everyone’s ‘Solutions’ Are Unhelpful
  20. Rethinking privacy in the age of psychological targeting: Direct regulation of psychological targeting may lift from users the burden of actively protecting their privacy (Sandra Matz, Ruth Elisabeth Appel & Michal Kosinski)

CREATIVITY

  1. Paris Court of Appeal confirms that Koons’s ‘Naked’ sculpture infringes copyright in ‘Enfants’ photograph, rejecting freedom of the arts and parody defences (Eleonora Rosati)
  2. US government lists fictional nation Wakanda as trade partner
  3. No Surprise: Judge Says US Government Can Take The Proceeds From Snowden’s Book
  4. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Trying To Use An Anti-SLAPP Law To Get Out Of Paying Anti-SLAPP Damages And It Ain’t Working
  5. Street art raises novel copyright issues – or does it?
  6. Guity v. Santos: Court dismisses copyright claims against Santos, finding plaintiff had not identified protectable elements that were allegedly infringed, and that parties’ songs in their entirety were not substantially similar.
  7. Remedies in IP antitrust cases in USA
  8. China and Hollywood: Is the romance over?
  9. ‘Cats’ Director Rushes Visual Effects Update Into Theaters After Disastrous Opening
  10. Minority Report: How Canada’s Electoral System Disrupts Copyright Reform
  11. The craziest Christmas patents you didn’t know existed
  12. Naughty or Nice? A Few Last Minute Tips for Using Santa Claus in Your Advertising
  13. Ars’ favorite movies of the 2010s (John Wick most definitely included)

GAMES

  1. Arsenal’s Mesut Özil removed from PES 2020 after criticising China’s treatment of Muslims: NetEase also pulls the midfielder from two other Chinese version of Konami’s football game
  2. Mesut Ozil removed from Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 in China: NetEase said Ozil’s comments ‘hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sport’s spirit of love and peace’
  3. Police Arrest, Charge Twitch Streamer With Child Abuse After Receiving Tips From Community
  4. Mixer, Facebook Gaming chipped away at Twitch market share in 2019: But Twitch is still far and away the streaming giant, with 73% of all streaming hours watched
  5. Mixer Sees 149% Year-Over-Year Jump In Hours Watched, But Is Still Far From Challenging Twitch’s 9.3 Billion
  6. CD Projekt and The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski settle royalties disagreement
  7. The Witcher 3 sees jump in Steam players after debut of The Witcher Netflix show
  8. Every major older version of Dead Cells is now preserved and playable on Steam
  9. Ethics in the video game industry: A mythbusting and scientific approach
  10. Dangen Entertainment’s new CEO to let devs cancel existing contracts: Developers remain skeptical of plan to right the ship after former CEO accused of harassment, unethical business practices
  11. UK charity calls on government to regulate loot boxes: The Royal Society for the Protection of Health releases report on attitude of young people toward loot boxes
  12. Telltale Games revival is aiming for a “stable, non-crunch work environment”: “We are a new company – with different ownership and management, and a different approach as to how we structure a studio”
  13. Analyst: Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 400k copies on Epic Games Store
  14. Google acquires Typhoon Studios to boost Stadia-exclusive content
  15. Google Stadia acquires Typhoon Studios: Stadia head and Typhoon co-founders explain why the upstart studio is giving up being indie before its first game even launches
  16. Panic will ship Playdate preview units to curious devs ahead of full launch
  17. Facebook acquires cloud gaming service PlayGiga
  18. Facebook acquires cloud gaming company PlayGiga for $78 million
  19. Facebook acquires cloud gaming outfit PlayGiga: Madrid-based services provider reportedly cost $78m
  20. Tencent expands ‘Start’ cloud gaming platform in China
  21. Tencent launches its Start cloud gaming service: Blade & Soul, Path of Exile, Fortnite, NBA2K Online 2 are part of the beta test
  22. The Rainbow Six Siege core team is shifting to new Ubisoft projects
  23. After Inking Multiyear Endorsement Deal, Ninja Unveils First Adidas Sneakers
  24. Global Esports Federation announced, backed by Tencent: Federation aims to be “the voice and authority for the worldwide esports movement”
  25. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios
  26. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares dev Tarsier Studios for $10.5m: Also gains Statik IP, but Little Nightmares and Stretchers remain with their publishers
  27. Dragon Quest XI ships 5.5 million: Number includes digital sales and physical shipments of PS4, PC, 3DS, and Switch versions of Square Enix RPG
  28. The long game: Running PR in the games-as-a-service era – Prezly’s Kate Bystrova talks to PR experts on the unique challenge of getting exposure for games that can be played for years and years
  29. N3twork acquires Funko Pop Blitz after NBCUniversal winds down game business
  30. Half-Life: Alyx Hands-On! Tested on 8 VR Headsets
  31. 15 VR Games We Can’t Wait to Play in 2020
  32. Road to VR’s 2019 Game of the Year Awards
  33. In February, Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest is the next “game devs on TV” show
  34. Video: Crafting the unsettling sounds of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
  35. Blog: Pillars of playability – Exploring dynamic difficulty
  36. Blog: The mighty MMM concept in hyper-casual game design
  37. Blog: Engaging level design for combat – Part 3
  38. Blog: Why Epic’s attempt to go fee-free on Google Play is bad news
  39. Blog: Procedural texturing for hand-painted stylized character pipelines
  40. Blog: Improving resource harvesting in real-time strategy games
  41. Video Game Deep Cuts: 2019’s Best Best Best Best & Other Animals
  42. Death Stranding, Control and next-gen teases among industry’s 2019 highlights: We asked publishers, platform holders, developers and more for their favourite moments and games of the year
  43. Games of the Year 2019: The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG showed what the studio can achieve with the time and space to express its talent
  44. Games of the Year 2019: Eastshade – Stopping a moment to paint the Bloomsacs. Then another moment. Then so many more
  45. 4 events that shook up the game industry in 2019
  46. What we can learn from…The Future – 2019 in Review: Department of Play’s Will Luton on the trends technologies and that will disrupt the games business over the next decade
  47. Mobile’s fast risers of 2019 could be leaders in 2020: Call of Duty and Mario Kart fell away in November, according to Sensor Tower, while Playrix’ Township and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle were ascendant
  48. 38 reasons why 2019 was not all bad: From charitable acts to crank-powered consoles, we round-up the best things to happen in the games industry over the past 12 months
  49. Best of 2019: Level design patterns in 2D games
  50. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Katherine Cross’ Top 5 Games
  51. Ars Technica’s best games of 2019
  52. Console makers lay out their 2020 visions | Opinion: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have very different ideas of where the console market is going in 2020 and beyond – and it’s even possible that they’re all correct
  53. U.S. Patent no. 10,265,627: Virtual reality simulation of a live-action sequence
  54. U.S. Patent no. 10,272,335: Systems and methods of serving video for remote play

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; December 18, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 23, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. People who are given correct information still misremember it to fit their own beliefs: “What we have had in lieu of a well-informed citizenry is what might be termed a  myth – the myth of the attentive public.”
  2. Can fact-checkers save Taiwan from a flood of Chinese fake news?
  3. Change to Chinese university’s charter dropping ‘freedom of thought’ stirs debate
  4. Chinese students denounce limits on free speech, in a rare protest
  5. Iran Accelerates Longstanding Quest To Cut Itself Off From The Internet
  6. Nevada’s Top Court Says The State’s Journalist Shield Law Also Applies To Bloggers
  7. Maryland Disclosure Requirements for Online Political Ads Violates the First Amendment–Washington Post v. McManus (Eric Goldman)
  8. Breach of Contract/Promissory Estoppel Claims Bypass Section 230 But Fail Anyways—Yue v. Miao (Eric Goldman)
  9. AG William Barr Attacks Section 230… Even Though It Doesn’t Hinder The DOJ At All
  10. Engineer says Google fired her for browser pop-up about worker rights
  11. This 3D-printed Stanford bunny also holds the data for its own reproduction
  12. Russian media group Rambler attempting to hold Nginx hostage
  13. Facebook fails to convince lawmakers it needs to track your location at all times
  14. Twitter and Facebook Want to Shift Power to Users. Or Do They?: A decentralized internet was hailed as a way to dethrone Twitter and Facebook. But to the tech giants, the idea could unload some of their burdens.
  15. Hungary Has Fined Facebook For ‘Misleading Consumers’ Because It Promoted Its Service As ‘Free’
  16. FTC may block Facebook from integrating messaging apps, per WSJ report
  17. Regulator weighs action against Facebook over plans to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger
  18. Instagram to start warning users before they post ‘potentially offensive’ captions: The AI-powered feature came to comments earlier this year
  19. Instagram Launches AI Tool That Warns Users Before They Post Potentially Offensive Captions
  20. Instagram now lets you upload multiple photos on one Story post with ‘layout’ feature: A third-party tool brought inside
  21. Instagram Won’t Pull These Racist, Violent, Russian-Inspired Accounts: Neo-Confederates are posting racist memes – and reusing material from Kremlin trolls. But Instagram says the accounts don’t violate its rules.
  22. Sons Of Confederate Veterans Sued Over Bogus DMCA Takedown
  23. NC, Or Not NC: Why Suing The Sons Of Confederate Veterans In N.D.Cal For Violating The DMCA Makes Sense
  24. Bing’s Top Search Results Contain an Alarming Amount of Disinformation
  25. Are you sharing too much about your kids online? Probably
  26. Lumen Presents Comments to the Third Meeting of the Stakeholder Dialogue on Art. 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market in Brussels
  27. Shedding light on fraudulent takedown notices: Berkman Klein Center’s Lumen database helps bring attention to falsified court orders
  28. Beware your automatic email footer!
  29. Where’d You Get Your Tech? New Rules May Allow the U.S. Government to Unwind Your Latest IT Purchase
  30. Samsung chair imprisoned and 24 others found guilty in union-busting case
  31. Netflix docuseries Broken highlights prevalence of counterfeit cosmetics products on online marketplaces
  32. Another ex-Google employee accuses company of union busting: A fifth fired worker attests company let her go for coding internal notification about workers’ rights
  33. Trump administration says employers can ban organizing via company email
  34. Rather Than Radicalize, YouTube’s Algorithm Brings Viewers Toward “Mainstream” Content, CEO Says
  35. Robert Downey Jr.’s Long-Awaited YouTube Original To Drop Dec. 18
  36. Susanne Daniels, Robert Kyncl Talk Pros And Cons Of YouTube’s Switch To Ad-Supported Originals
  37. Billboard 200 to Include Official Video Plays From YouTube, Streaming Services
  38. These Are The 10 Most-Viewed YouTube Ads Of The Year
  39. Ryan Kaji Is Reportedly YouTube’s Top-Earning Creator This Year, Raking In $26 Million
  40. For The First Time, YouTube Consumption Will Inform The ‘Billboard 200’ Albums Chart
  41. YouTube Music gets Spotify-like personalized playlists
  42. Apple’s new Screen Time Communication Limits are easily beaten with a bug
  43. iPhones and iPads finally get key-based protection against account takeovers
  44. Mac Pro teardown finds a largely traditional desktop inside
  45. Apple Filed A Silly, Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key… Before Backing Down
  46. Bogus DMCA Notices Still A Huge Problem As Apple Gets Unfairly Blamed For Reddit Takedown
  47. Abbott Laboratories Sends Heavy-Handed Copyright Threat To Shut Down Diabetes Community Tool For Accessing Blood-Sugar Data
  48. Copyright Trolls Go Mostly Silent In US Federal Courts
  49. Yup, Strike 3 Is Going The Prenda Route By Filing ‘Pure Discovery’ Suits In FL State Court
  50. Spotify debuts a new original podcast that looks back on the last decade in music
  51. Spotify prototypes Tastebuds to revive social music discovery
  52. Sponsorship: good faith and measuring the value of influencers
  53. Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul Land Linear MTV Series ‘Bustedness’
  54. Snap Dropping Complex-Produced Doc About Incarcerated Rapper Tekashi69
  55. Deji Olatunji Appealing U.K. Court’s Decision To Euthanize His Dog After “Nasty” Attack
  56. Bretman Rock Lands ‘No Filter’ Digital Reality Series At MTV
  57. Streamys Bestows ‘Premiere’ Awards To Ninja, JoJo Siwa Ahead Of Tomorrow’s Flagship Ceremony
  58. Here Are Your 2019 Streamy Awards Winners
  59. NLRB Restores Employers’ Right to Restrict Employees’ Personal Use of Company Email and Other IT Resources
  60. Be Careful What You Wish For: TikTok Tries To Stop Bullying On Its Platforms… By Suppressing Those It Thought Might Get Bullied
  61. Parents Sue TikTok for COPPA Violations, Settle for $1.1M
  62. VidCon 2020 Goes All In On TikTok With Featured Creators Andre Swilley, ThunThun Skittles, More
  63. VidCon Makes Middle Eastern Foray In 5-Year Deal With Abu Dhabi Tourism Department
  64. TikTok Inks Deal With WWE For 30 New Wrestler Accounts, Entrance Music Licensing
  65. Amazon bans third-party merchants from shipping with FedEx
  66. Some junk for sale on Amazon is very literally garbage, report finds
  67. Amazon Prime Reportedly Lands Rihanna Documentary For A Cool $25 Million
  68. Amazon and Google Are Practically Giving Away Smart Speakers. Here’s Why.
  69. Hulu debuts a new type of ad that will reward binge-watchers
  70. Large tech merger provides an early opportunity to test the fitness of the competition regime in 2020
  71. What’s App? – End of Year Round-up on mHealth App Developments
  72. Trust, Decentralization, and The Blockchain
  73. Exhume dead cryptocurrency exec who owes us $250 million, creditors demand
  74. This alleged Bitcoin scam looked a lot like a pyramid scheme
  75. Controversial sale of .org domain manager faces review at ICANN
  76. The idiot’s guide to why you should not steal a domain name at gun point
  77. This “essential piece of computing history” just sold for $43,750
  78. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 36: The Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy (Michael Geist)

A.I.

  1. A sobering message about the future at AI’s biggest party
  2. I created my own deepfake—it took two weeks and cost $552
  3. Owning Intelligence: The United States Patent and Trademark Office is trying to answer a very complicated question: who owns artificial intelligence?
  4. Does AI generated work give rise to a copyright claim?
  5. Deep Learning breakthrough made by Rice University scientists
  6. Rigid machines meet human creativity: Advising on data strategies

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. The CRTC Imposes New Obligation on Telecommunications Service Providers to Combat Nuisance Calls
  2. Mozilla, Consumer Groups Petition For Rehearing of Net Neutrality Case
  3. FCC’s “illogical” claim that broadband isn’t telecommunications faces appeal
  4. Bernie’s Broadband Plan Gives A Big Green Light To Community Broadband 
  5. CRTC Enforces CASL in Case of Malware Distribution 
  6. CASL Enforcement Action – $115,000 in Penalties for Distributing Malware
  7. Netflix Data Suggests Streaming Giant Spending One-Third of Canadian Revenues on Film and TV Production in Canada (Michael Geist)
  8. Tax Policy Confusion: What Digital Taxes are on the Canadian Government’s Agenda? (Michael Geist)
  9. New communications law research platform will strengthen policymaking: Analyzing millions of pages of legal documents, new tools will simplify legal data for the public
  10. AT&T Said Trump Tax Cuts Would Create Thousands Of Jobs. Instead, AT&T’s Laying Off Thousands.
  11. AT&T doesn’t want you to see its slow Internet speed-test results 
  12. The FCC Helped AT&T Hide Its Crappy Broadband Speeds 
  13. FCC Proposes Fines of Over $600,000 to Two Boston-Area Pirate Radio Operators 
  14. Cheaters Never Prosper: FCC Proposes $10MM Fine On Man Who Used His Business Rival’s Phone Number on Spoofed Robocalls
  15. TCPA Legislative Update — After Much Negotiation, House Passes Consensus Robocall Legislation; Senate Vote Imminent
  16. Constitutional Challenges to TCPA: What’s Next?
  17. TCPA Regulatory Update — FCC Wakes from TCPA Hibernation with Orders Granting Two Petitions
  18. FCC Admonishes and Cites ISPs for Failure to Comply with the Transparency Rule
  19. FCC Seeks Comment on Cable Service Change Notifications 
  20. FCC Seeks Comment on Establishing 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline 
  21. FCC Announces Deadlines for the Next Auction for New FM Channels – And a Filing Freeze 
  22. FCC Adopts Changes to Rules for New Noncommercial FM and LPFM Stations – Changing Application Processing Procedures and Holding Periods
  23. No-fiber zone: FCC funds 25Mbps, data-capped satellite in rural areas
  24. 5G deployment stands ready to supercharge the Internet of Things 
  25. 5G Phones Will Be Bigger & More Expensive With Crappy Battery Life. Excited Yet? 
  26. Commerce Department Takes Steps To Thwart Use of Information and Communications Technology and Services Associated With Foreign Adversaries 
  27. What now for UK telecoms regulation? 
  28. The Access Act: Can Data Portability Increase Online Platform Competition? 
  29. €2.6bn for the Irish National Broadband Plan Approved by the European Commission
  30. 988 will be the new 911 for suicide prevention—by sometime in 2021 

PRIVACY

  1. Avast CEO Downplays Collection Of 400 Million Users’ Browsing Data
  2. Guess What? Many Cookie Banners Ignore Your Wishes, So Max Schrems Goes On The GDPR Attack Again
  3. Recent Developments on Cookies – a Pan-European Overview
  4. Chrome’s data disaster: Browser update wipes out Android app data
  5. Chrome 79 will continuously scan your passwords against public data breaches
  6. Building trust as a foundation for a growth mindset around data
  7. Nebula VPN routes between hosts privately, flexibly, and efficiently
  8. Feds reap data from 1,500 phones in largest reported reverse-location warrant
  9. Michael Hayden Ran The NSA And CIA: Now Warns That Encryption Backdoors Will Harm American Security & Tech Leadership
  10. Florida Appeals Court Says Govt’s Lack Of Good Faith Can’t Save A 2012 Warrantless Stingray Deployment
  11. Inspector General’s Report On Investigation Of Trump Campaign Finds More FISA-Related Abuse By The FBI
  12. FISA Court Benchslaps FBI For Its Abuse Of The FISA Warrant Process During The Trump Campaign Investigation
  13. Hackers steal data for 15 million patients, then sell it back to lab that lost it
  14. LifeLabs pays ransom after cyberattack exposes information of 15 million customers in B.C. and Ontario
  15. What is the IAB’s CCPA Compliance Framework for “Do not sell my personal information?”
  16. The CCPA is Only Two Weeks Away and Only 6% Of Companies Have Deployed a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” Link
  17. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – You are not California Dreamin’!
  18. Resetting the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)…with 2 Weeks To Go! (Part 1 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
  19. Some Lessons Learned from the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), 18 Months In (Part 2 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
  20. Eric Goldman’s Comments to the California DOJ Draft Regulations for the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Part 3 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
  21. EDPB Publishes Guidelines on the Right to Be Forgotten in Search Engine Cases
  22. Purple Communications, Inc. Overruled: Employees have no presumptive statutory right to use employer equipment, including email systems, under the NLRA
  23. Privacy Peril: Is Your Smart TV Too Smart?
  24. Wave of Ring surveillance camera hacks tied to podcast, report finds
  25. Online Forum Members Exploited Weak Credentials To Turn Ring Cameras Against Their Owners
  26. Privacy Tip #219 – Holiday Shopping Tip for Internet-Connected Gifts
  27. A new draft code of practice for consumer IoT devices – hardening IoT supply chains
  28. Evaluating Risks in the IoT Supply Chain
  29. The IOT is Here and so is the Regulation
  30. Upload – 2019 Data Protection update

CREATIVITY

  1. Objections Filed re Access Copyright Proposed Post-Secondary Tariff for 2021-2023 and Update re 2011-2017
  2. Why Are Members Of Congress Telling A Private Organization Not To Comment On Copyright Law?
  3. Free-riding on reputation of LOUIS VUITTON mark
  4. Pepsi Scores Dismissal Of Copyright Dispute Over Super Bowl Ad
  5. Arsenal’s Mesut Özil Slams Uighur Repression and China Pulls Premier League Game: The move puts Beijing in conflict with a second major global sports league
  6. Hallmark Apologizes for Pulling Commercials That Show Brides Kissing
  7. Does Elon Musk’s Defamation Defense Verdict Spell “Open Season” for Social Media Insults? Answer: Nope.
  8. Robyn Openshaw, ‘The Green Smoothie Girl,’ Threatening SLAPP Suits Over Mediocre Reviews
  9. Tennessee Doctor Decides He Wants To Take The State’s Anti-SLAPP Law For A Spin, Files Bogus Defamation Lawsuit Over A Negative Review
  10. No, Filing A Defamation Lawsuit Is Never The Only Way You Can Clear Your Name
  11. Teespring Takes Down Our Copying Is Not Theft Gear, Refuses To Say Why
  12. Why Intermediary Liability Protections Matter: Our ‘Copying Is Not Theft’ T-Shirt May Be Collateral Damage To A Bad Court Ruling
  13. Delhi High Court Rules That Making A Copy Of The Film Is Not Only Restricted To Making A Physical Copy Of The Film But It Also Includes A Substantial And Fundamental Reproduction Of The Original
  14. US government is entitled to all Snowden book proceeds, judge rules
  15. Restaurant Association Looks To Take Back Taco Tuesday For The People
  16. Beyond The Taco: Someone Is Now Trying To Trademark ‘Breakfast Burrito’
  17. Copyright in designs: G-Stars in their Eyes
  18. University of Phoenix Settles FTC Deceptive Advertising Law Allegations
  19. Intellectual Property Rights and the Employer-Employee Relationship: A Canadian Law Q&A
  20. At Oral Argument Justices Consider Copyright Protection for Legal Annotations
  21. European Copyright: Memes, GIFs, and Other Images on the Internet

GAMES

  1. Russia’s Rambler Group suing Twitch for $2.8 billion: Internet giant takes takes legal action against streaming service in the region over pirated football broadcasts
  2. Twitch facing $2.9 billion lawsuit over broadcast of pirated soccer streams
  3. Nreal files motion to dismiss Magic Leap copycat suit
  4. Company fined nearly $100k for publishing unapproved game in China: Chinese law allows companies to be fined between 5 and 10 times their revenue for unlicensed titles
  5. Dangen chief Judd steps down following harassment, mismanagement allegations
  6. Ben Judd departs Dangen, DDM amid accusations of harassment, bad business: Sources allege Judd mishandled communications and payments, publicly exposed himself, upheld harmful power dynamic
  7. Bethesda adds John Romero Sigil mod to Doom console ports: Publisher recognises unofficial sequel alongside other free community mods
  8. Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s next console, launching holiday 2020
  9. Xbox’s next-gen Project Scarlett revealed as Xbox Series X
  10. The Xbox Series X will support backwards compatibility at launch
  11. The next Xbox has a name and a new design: Behold, 2020’s Xbox Series X
  12. Microsoft returning to simpler “Xbox” branding for next gen hardware: Xbox Series X is not the brand, Microsoft says, and name will allow “room for additional consoles in the future”
  13. Nintendo Switch outsells Xbox One worldwide
  14. Developing Switch-first eases the porting process, says Axiom Verge dev
  15. Sony launching DualShock 4 rear button attachment: Plug-in peripheral will let players map actions to two new buttons on the back of the controller
  16. Apple Arcade introduces a cheaper annual subscription option
  17. Apple Arcade rolls out $50 yearly subscription option
  18. Apple Arcade now has a cut-price annual payment tier: New subscription option gives a year’s access for the price of ten individual months
  19. Atari details revenue splits, engine partnerships ahead of Atari VCS 2020 launch
  20. Atari offers 88% of revenue to exclusive VCS games: Non-exclusive games will get an 80/20 revenue split from sales through the VCS store
  21. Gameloft teams up with Blacknut for new cloud gaming service
  22. Why new consoles probably won’t be enough to save GameStop
  23. Mortal Kombat 11 will soon bring cross-console ‘Krossplay’ into the fray
  24. Mario has the most fans in the US, but Call of Duty ranks higher for most people: Over 44% of Americans are fans of Nintendo’s mascot, but 26% put Activision’s shooter in their Top Five
  25. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrowly beats Star Wars ahead of UK Christmas chart – There are nine Mario-related games in the Top 40
  26. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has topped $1 billion in sell-through revenue
  27. FIFA 20 is still at the top of the EMEAA charts: EA’s latest entry returns to No.1 for the sixth week since its launch
  28. Mobile games made 15 times more revenue than entertainment apps in a single year: Liftoff report on app industry shows games leading the way in downloads, in-app revenue and number of new releases
  29. Survey finds parents getting stricter on kids’ in-game spending: ISFE finds parents more likely than last year to have an agreement with children regulating purchases or to forbid children from in-game spending entirely
  30. Undead Labs setting up new studio, game development academy in New Orleans
  31. Warcraft III: Reforged will release on January 28, not in 2019
  32. Rainbow Six Siege switches core team: Leroy Athanassoff to lead new group as Xavier Marquis and Alexandre Remy move on to new projects at Ubisoft
  33. Animoca Brands buys Power Rangers: Legacy Wars developer nWay
  34. Animoca Brands acquires Power Rangers developer nWay: Studio behind mobile fighting game Legacy Wars purchased for $7.69 million
  35. Brawl Stars brought in $422m in its first year: Sensor Tower – Supercell’s multiplayer arena brought in $94m in South Korea alone
  36. Final Fantasy XIV Online has passed 18 million registered players
  37. Wargaming finally branching beyond World of Tanks with UK studio’s new IP: CEO Victor Kislyi and UK studio director Sean Decker discuss how the publisher’s newest team aims to conquer the West
  38. Zynga opens new UK mobile studio to expand racing game portfolio
  39. Zynga starts a new racing game studio in United Kingdom
  40. Analyst: Clash of Clans claimed the most consumer spend of any mobile game this decade
  41. Riot Forge is publishing two new League of Legends games
  42. Dobre Brothers Launch ‘Dobre Dunk’ Mobile Game With BroadbandTV
  43. Just 15% of Shroud’s US audience followed him to Mixer: Shroud’s US audience on Mixer is one-third of what it was on Twitch
  44. Game.tv raises $25 million to bring esports to Discord, Twitter, and Facebook
  45. Esports platform Game.tv secures $25 million in funding: Also launches AI-driven platform via Discord and web app
  46. EA, Respawn announce Apex Legends Global Series: $3m at stake in the game’s first international, multi-tournament esports program
  47. League of Legends World Championship 2019 was the most-watched LoL esports event ever: The Finals reached an average minute audience of 21.8m, and 44m peak concurrent viewers
  48. Local split-screen has been added to Fortnite on the PS4 and Xbox One
  49. PewDiePie Quits Twitter Over Amount Of “Virtue Signaling,” Says He’ll Take A Break From YouTube In 2020
  50. Playable Gothic prototype will let fans decide direction of possible remake
  51. High Fidelity lays off half of studio in pivot away from VR
  52. High Fidelity lays off half of staff, pulls plug on open-source VR platform: Company cuts headcount for second time this year, says it is refocusing on new project early in development
  53. Boneworks review: An absolute VR mess—yet somehow momentous
  54. Blog: Analyzing the pitfalls of the Virtual Boy
  55. N3twork acquires Funko Pop! Blitz: The game, along with several key developers, picked up from defunct NBCUniversal gaming arm
  56. Why the creator of Kerbal Space Program is returning to the troposphere: After leaving Squad, Felipe Falanghe has created his own two-person studio to make Balsa Model Flight Simulator
  57. How ArenaNet is rewriting the narrative for its narrative writers: Novera King and Bobby Stein discuss the studio’s first run of a narrative writing mentorship program — and its next iteration
  58. A QA breakdown of The Outer Worlds’ elusive companion killing bug
  59. Watch the lead dev of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition break down the game’s rebirth
  60. Blog: Building a fantasy VR world in Unity
  61. Blog: Practical tools for game designers
  62. Video: Designing efficient, effective branching narratives for games
  63. Video: To make 1997’s Blade Runner, Westwood first had to create the universe
  64. Video: Inside the UX of onboarding and player engagement 
  65. Case Study: A ‘peek’ at Golf Peaks’ multiplatform sales
  66. Industry vet Kate Edwards to be honored with Ambassador Award at 2020 GDCAs!
  67. Kate Edwards to be honored with GDCA’s Ambassador Award: Former IGDA head and current executive director of Global Game Jam to accept award at GDC in March
  68. Naughty Dog to donate all cash from Jak and Daxter re-releases to charity
  69. The 12 biggest announcements from The Game Awards 2019
  70. Sekiro claims GOTY, but Disco Elysium leads The Game Awards winners
  71. The Game Awards: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice takes game of the year
  72. The Game Awards reached 7.5m concurrent viewers: Total livestreams of the event were up 73% from last year to 45.2m
  73. People of the Year 2019: From charity pioneers and environmental movements to legendary designers and AAA studios, our choices reflect the depth and breadth of the modern games industry
  74. Epic’s exclusivity push leads to ugliness – 2019 in Review: How consumer grumbling over Steam’s newest competition snowballed into outright abuse
  75. People of the Year 2019: Respawn Entertainment – Starting with Apex Legends and finishing with Jedi Fallen Order, in 2019 Respawn became EA’s single most important studio
  76. Analyst: Clash of Clans claimed the most consumer spend of any mobile game this decade
  77. Subway Surfers is the top mobile game of the decade by downloads: Clash of Clans was No.1 in consumer spend from 2010 to 2019
  78. The 50 best games of 2019
  79. Games of the Year 2019: Sea of Thieves – Rare’s pirate adventure offered an object lesson in how service-based games can get better and better with age
  80. Games of the Year 2019: Untitled Goose Game: Is the goose horrible, or is it me?
  81. Games of the Year 2019: Heaven’s Vault – Inkle delivers a deep adventure where everything from the world’s history to individual puzzles is open to interpretation
  82. Games of the Year 2019: Divinity: Original Sin II – The Switch version of Larian’s latest captures the feel of pen-and-paper role-playing in ones and zeroes
  83. Games of the Year 2019: Super Mario Maker 2 – Nintendo delivered the sequel Super Mario Maker deserved this year and finally learnt to trust its community
  84. Best of 2019: Designing the gameplay and aesthetic of Diablo IV
  85. Best of 2019: Former Fortnite UX lead digs into ethical game design
  86. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Alex Wawro’s top 5 games
  87. Video Game Deep Cuts: (More Of) The Best Games Of 2019 
  88. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Games of the Year 2019 – Download the latest episode now to find out which games have most impressed the editorial team this year
  89. GamesIndustry.biz presents… The Year In Numbers 2019: Find out this year’s global games market value, biggest games on social media, speediest digital discounts and more
  90. U.S. Patent no. 10,265,621: Tracking specific gestures related to user movement

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; December 11, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 22, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. American WeChat Users Getting Banned For Celebrating Hong Kong Election Results
  2. TikTok settles children’s data lawsuit one day after it was filed
  3. The USA is investigating social media app TikTok – what does this mean for social media platforms & transparency?
  4. TikTok CEO Cancels Capitol Hill Meetings Amid Investigation Into Chinese Surveillance, Censorship
  5. TikTok Wraps 2019 With First-Ever Top 10 Lists Of Creators, Videos, Memes
  6. TikTok’s Parent Company Piloting Spotify Competitor ‘Resso’ In Emerging Markets
  7. Russia Blocks All Of Shutterstock Due To ‘Offensive’ Image Involving The Russian Flag
  8. Russian ‘Evil Corp’ Was Behind a Decade of Hacks, U.S. Says
  9. Kingpin of Evil Corp lived large. Now there’s a $5 million bounty on his head
  10. FTC Slaps Cambridge Analytica With An Order Barring The Already Defunct Company From Illegally Collecting Data Ever Again
  11. DHS Sued Over First Amendment-Trampling Social Media Vetting Program
  12. Critics say Facebook’s powerful ad tools may imperil democracy. But politicians love them.
  13. Trolling The Trademark Troll: Lemonade CEO Releases Chrome Extension To Remove Magenta From Websites
  14. Senate Judiciary committee interrogates Apple, Facebook about crypto
  15. Who’s Spreading Disinformation in U.K. Election? You Might Be Surprised
  16. Social media platforms leave 95% of reported fake accounts up, study finds: Fake accounts are easy to buy and make, and platforms are bad at yanking them.
  17. Twelfth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Retana v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  18. The Subtweet Defense Wins: Elon Musk Cleared In Defamation Case
  19. Jury sides with Elon Musk in “pedo guy” defamation case
  20. Lawyer Asks Racists To Use Sketchy Millions They Got From UNC To Fund Scholarships For Black Students To Avoid Lawsuit For Bogus Takedown
  21. 3D printing can keep aging Air Force aircraft flying
  22. DOL’s $400M pay-discrimination suit is unconstitutional, Oracle argues
  23. Pinning Copyright Violations on Pinterest
  24. Digital Entrepreneur To Serve 14 Years For Criminal Plot To Wrest Domain Name
  25. Failed plot to steal domain name at gunpoint brings 14-year prison term
  26. ADA Website Compliance: It’s back to the trial court for Domino’s Pizza
  27. Verizon To Lay Off 150 More Employees From ‘Media’ Division
  28. Verizon lays off more Yahoo/AOL employees after another drop in revenue
  29. Verizon Media Pacts With Advisory Chair Serena Williams On Branded ‘Yahoo Shopping’ Series
  30. Verizon reportedly blocks archivists from Yahoo Groups days before deletion
  31. Verizon Is Undermining Efforts To Archive Yahoo Groups…For No Coherent Reason
  32. Sledgehammer or scalpel? EU policy makers and industry debate digital regulation
  33. Europe’s bid to re-nationalise tech
  34. Alibaba and the forty infringers: IP enforcement with China’s biggest online marketplace
  35. France, As Promised, Is First Out Of The Gate With Its Awful Copyright Directive Law: Ignores Requirements For User Protections
  36. Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications: Summary judgment for copyright holders, finding that ISP had specific knowledge of copyright infringement by subscribers on its networks and was contributorily liable.
  37. Revolving Door Revolves Some More: Head Of Copyright Office Leaves To Join MPAA
  38. Why Won’t Creative Future’s Members Comment About This Hollywood Front Group Smearing A Well Respected Law Professor?
  39. Disney’s Decision Not To Renew SecuROM License Bricks ‘Tron: Evolution’
  40. Disney+ Has Gotten 22 Million App Downloads In One Month (Report)
  41. Netflix To Develop Limited Series About The Birth Of Spotify
  42. Netflix Orders Limited Series Chronicling Origins Of Fellow Streamer Spotify
  43. Hulu is finally offering 4K and 5.1 audio on Roku devices
  44. Instagram Will Ask New Users For Birthdays
  45. Instagram Is Finally Asking New Users If They’re Over 13, But Will That Protect It From COPPA?
  46. Mraz Sues Festival Sponsor Over Use of Footage
  47. Building a More Honest Internet: What would social media look like if it served the public interest? (Ethan Zuckerman)
  48. The memefication of knowledge (Andres Guadamuz)
  49. Netflix And Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Brought 17 Million TV Viewers In First 5 Days
  50. Netflix Is Spending $420 Million on Indian Content, CEO Says
  51. Platforms, publishers, and the end of scale
  52. Fewer than 10% of Americans are buying $1,000 smartphones, report says
  53. Apple to speak at CES for first time in decades
  54. Digital Kids’ Content Company ‘Moonbug’ Launches VOD Channel On Apple TV
  55. Devin Nunes’ Virginia SLAPP Suits Causing Virginia Legislators To Consider A New Anti-SLAPP Law
  56. Amazon: Trump used “improper pressure” to block AWS from DOD cloud contract
  57. Amazon Secures Live Champions League Rights In Germany
  58. Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
  59. Ex-Governor Tries To Silence A Critic With A Bar Complaint; Gains Critic 70,000+ New Twitter Followers
  60. Twitter is funding research into a decentralized version of its platform: The outside research team will be called Bluesky
  61. Twitter Unveils New ‘Retweets’ Account To Fete User Community
  62. Twitter Makes A Bet On Protocols Over Platforms
  63. Snapchat Cameos edit your face into videos
  64. It Doesn’t Take A Genius To Recognize How Dumb Genius’ Lawsuit Against Google Is Over ‘Stolen’ Lyrics
  65. New YouTube policy tries to ban “implied” threats, “malicious” insults
  66. YouTube Asks The FTC To Give Creators Clearer COPPA Guidelines Ahead Of Jan. 1 Enforcement
  67. YouTube asks the FTC to clarify how video creators should comply with COPPA ruling
  68. YouTube’s Revamped Harassment Policy Will Remove Videos With Insults Based On Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation
  69. Michelle Obama, Liza Koshy, Julia Roberts Venture To Vietnam For YouTube Learning Original
  70. YouTube Treads Safe Approach To This Year’s ‘Rewind’, With Series Of Data-Driven Lists
  71. Shane Dawson, MrBeast, James Charles, Jeffree Star In YouTube’s Top Trending Videos Of 2019 Amid More Rewind Lists
  72. Michelle Khare Debuts ‘YouTube Rewind 2019: The Musical,’ Chronicling Creator Community’s Successes And Scandals
  73. Streamys Announces Host-Less Ceremony In Lieu Of ‘Collaborators’ Brandon Rogers, Mark Rober, Emma Chamberlain, Hannah Stocking, And More
  74. Hyperlinks killed the radio star: High Court of England and Wales “Tunes In” to the radio streaming debate
  75. BuzzFeed Loses 3 More Creators, Who Have Exited To Launch Indie Studio ‘Watcher’
  76. BroadbandTV Reorganizes Music Services Under ‘Opposition’ Division
  77. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 35: Allen Mendelsohn on Canada’s Copyright Site Blocking Saga (Michael Geist)
  78. Hosted copyrights – are you bound by the EU directive?
  79. Canadian Copyright 2.0: A look back at the 2019 statutory review recommendations for guidance on the future of copyright reform in Canada
  80. OSC Orders Approval of Prospectus for Canada’s First Bitcoin Investment Fund
  81. Patenting Blockchain Technologies
  82. Electronic signatures – progress, but don’t throw away your pen
  83. Australia remains closed for business on computer implemented business method patents
  84. Insights: Seven Social Media Trends That Point To A Vexing 2020 For Creators, Brands

A.I.

  1. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People: Racial discrimination by algorithms or by people is harmful — but that’s where the similarities end.
  2. Addressing indirect discrimination and gender stereotypes in AI virtual personal assistants: the role of international human rights law (Rachel Adams & Nora Ni Loideáin)
  3. Who Owns an AI-generated Invention?
  4. Does the FTC’s Recent Influencer Guidance Address Robots?
  5. Best of 2019: How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
  6. Video: The alchemy and science of machine learning for games
  7. The case for artificial intelligence: 2020 will be the year for broad AI adoption in Canada, argues Sean Lynch
  8. Bringing a balance of arms to communications policy making: CIPPIC and vLex deploy expert knowledge and artificial intelligence to improve the ability of Canadian citizens to make a difference.
  9. Public opinion lessons for AI regulation
  10. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People
  11. How Deepfakes Scramble Our Sense of True and False
  12. Emotion-sensing robot launches to assist space station astronauts
  13. Chatbots – Trends, Predictions and Five Key Legal Issues
  14. An intersection of technology and life sciences: The impact of big data and social media 
  15. The “Ghost Workers” Underpinning the World’s Artificial Intelligence Systems: Ron Orol speaks with Mary Gray, author of a book on the unseen labour that powers the internet 
  16. Competing in an AI-driven world 
  17. AI and healthcare
  18. Cloudy with a chance of neurons: The tools that make neural networks work

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Court of Appeals Finds Maryland Law Imposing Political Disclosure Obligations on Online Platforms to be Unconstitutional – Finding Different Treatment of Broadcasters is Justified
  2. Tucker Carlson and the Russification of the GOP
  3. Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security: The network’s furthering of lies from foreign adversaries and flagrant disregard for the truth have gotten downright dangerous.
  4. Bernie Sanders vows to break up huge ISPs and regulate broadband prices
  5. Study Says US Ranked 68th Out Of 100 In Mobile Video Quality
  6. As Trial Begins, Evidence Shows Sprint, T-Mobile Know Merger Will Raise Prices
  7. AT&T raises DirecTV prices again despite losing millions of customers
  8. AT&T Says The Real Problem With The Internet Is We Pay Too Much Attention To Giant ISPs
  9. Lawsuit forces CenturyLink to stop charging “Internet Cost Recovery Fee”
  10. Huawei sues FCC to stop ban on Huawei gear in US-funded networks
  11. FCC proposes new rules and spectrum reallocation that could change the future of auto safety communications – agency seeks comments and input
  12. Another Day, Another Telecom Giant Caught Taking Taxpayer Subsidies They Didn’t Deserve 
  13. Franken FMs – The FCC Asks if It Should Continue to Allow Channel 6 LPTV Stations to Operate as FM Broadcasters
  14. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures
  15. FCC Grants Waivers of Geocoded Location Data Deadline 
  16. FCC Plans Major Overhaul of Suspension and Debarment Rules for its USF, TRS, and Other Funding Programs
  17. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures 
  18. FCC Rules That Unsolicited Ads Sent to Online Fax Services are not Prohibited 
  19. New York Enacts New Telemarketing Law 
  20. 5G Spectrum Auctions in Kinstellar Jurisdictions
  21. Can 5G replace everybody’s home broadband?
  22. Google Fiber ends $50, 100Mbps plan, but 1Gbps is still $70 with no data cap 
  23. CIPPIC and Legal Tech Firm vLex Partnering on LFO-Funded and AI-Fueled Communications Policy Analysis Project 

PRIVACY

  1. The Afghanistan Papers v. The Pentagon Papers: How A Whistleblower Worked Much Better Than Endless FOIA Litigation
  2. Foreign Companies Can Use 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to Unmask Anonymous Internet Posters
  3. Colorado Appeals Court: Three Months Of Surveillance Via Pole-Mounted Camera Is Unconstitutional
  4. California Supreme Court Closes Warrantless Vehicle Search Loophole
  5. Another Federal Court Says Compelled Production Of Fingerprints To Unlock A Phone Doesn’t Violate The Constitution
  6. NYPD Finally Releases A Body Camera Policy That Gives The Department Plenty Of Ways To Withhold Footage
  7. The FBI Says Your TV Is Probably Spying On You
  8. DOJ Headed By William Barr Asked To Explain Warrantless Bulk Data Collection William Barr Authorized 27 Years Ago When He Was The Head Of The DOJ
  9. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates on desktops and on smartphones?
  10. Does the placement of a cookie banner impact user acceptance rate?
  11. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates depending upon how many choices are provided to website visitors?
  12. Getting Cookie Consent Right
  13. EDPB Finalizes Guidance on GDPR Applicability Outside EU
  14. The Fate Of EU Legislation Designed To Bolster Data Protection Beyond The GDPR, The ePrivacy Regulation, Hangs In The Balance
  15. Framing a Federal Privacy Standard: Congressional Efforts Continue
  16. Intel’s SGX coughs up crypto keys when scientists tweak CPU voltage
  17. Defense Department To Congress: ‘No, Wait, Encryption Is Actually Good; Don’t Break It’
  18. Keybase moves to stop onslaught of spammers on encrypted message platform
  19. Newly discovered Mac malware uses “fileless” technique to remain stealthy
  20. Louisiana State Government Systems Down Following Ryuk Ransomware Attack
  21. Pensacola confirms ransomware attack but provides few details
  22. Maze ransomware was behind Pensacola “cyber event,” Florida officials say
  23. Fund Managers Targeted in Sophisticated Cyberattacks
  24. The iPhone 11’s U1 chip necessitates constant geolocation checks, Apple says
  25. Cops Offered Deeper Discounts On Ring Cameras Depending On How Much Of The Neighborhood The Cameras Would Surveil
  26. Uploaded Ring footage reportedly provides location to the square inch

CREATIVITY

  1. Taking Value out of the Copyright Tariff Process: The Copyright Board’s Access Copyright Post-Secondary Tariff Decision (Michael Geist)
  2. Making the Best of a Bad Provision: Why Canada Should Work Toward a Copyright Term Extension Registration Requirement (Michael Geist)
  3. Ad Agency Loses Copyright Infringement Attack on Pepsi
  4. Ben and Jerry’s Hit With Two Sticky Suits
  5. Last Christmas – Copyright and sound recordings
  6. Marvin Gaye Family Not Done With Pharrell Just Yet: Bring Him Back To Court Claiming Perjury
  7. The £90,000 banana – Why is it so appealing to the art market?
  8. Questions Raised Over Marketing Restrictions on Olympic Athletes
  9. Bias Disguised as Neutrality Gives Rise to False Advertising Claims
  10. Spate of FDA and FTC Warning Letters Sets Stage for Wave of False Advertising Consumer Class Action Lawsuits
  11. Smells Like Infringement: Court’s Refusal to Dismiss Copyright and Trademark Claims Makes Nirvana Smile
  12. Standing Up for Stand-Up Comedy: Joke Theft and the Relevance of Copyright Law and Social Norms in the Social Media Age (Hannah Pham)
  13. Watch: The Law of Advertising
  14. Judge Orders Man Who Violated Recording Ban To Publish An Essay About Respecting The Court AND To Delete All Negative Comments From Readers

GAMES

  1. German regulator prompts Valve crackdown on Steam Nazis: Valve pledges to better train moderators after media agency finds dozens of banned symbols, slogans, anti-Semitism
  2. Epic Games files preemptive lawsuit against Dancing Pumpkin Man: Fortnite developer responds to cease and desist letter with a lawsuit
  3. Epic Games Store implements in-game purchases for third-parties: Developers who use their own payment tools will not share revenue with Epic on in-game transactions
  4. Epic Games Store policy change expands in-game payment options for devs 
  5. Indies hit with takedowns over trademarked ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ term
  6. Chooseco Chooses An Adventure In Bullying Indie Game Devs Over Trademark
  7. Ex-Razer employees accuse CEO of abusive behavior: Former employees say Min-Liang Tan yelled, threw objects, made threats, demanded unreasonable overtime, and was verbally abusive
  8. Latest Rocket League update replaces loot boxes with an item store
  9. Chucklefish apologizes after casting white voice actors for non-white characters
  10. Chucklefish apologizes for Wargroove’s whitewashed voice casting: Developer says it made decision based only on audio files, pledges to be more sensitive in the future
  11. Federal Communications Commission Rules Require Communications in Video Games to Be Accessible and Usable
  12. 2K opens new in-house studio to work on BioShock franchise
  13. 2K opens Cloud Chamber to build “another unforgettable BioShock experience”: We speak to the publisher’s first female studio head Kelley Gilmore about continuing Ken Levine’s acclaimed franchise
  14. Nintendo Switch faces an uphill slog in China | Opinion: China is a country with little interest in consoles, so success for the Switch will require building a whole market segment from nothing
  15. Nintendo Switch sold estimated 50k units in China on launch day: Niko Partners – Console on track to reach 100k units in the country by the end of 2019
  16. Nintendo stock rises following Switch launch in China: Share price up 2.9%, reaching highest intraday level since May 2018
  17. Nintendo Indie World showcase talks exclusives, sequels, and 2020 lineup
  18. Sony will bring MLB: The Show to rival console platforms ‘as early as 2021’
  19. Sony’s MLB The Show will be released on rival consoles: No new platforms confirmed for baseball series, but both Nintendo and Microsoft have shared the news
  20. Sony pulls PS4 Lineup video after accusations of plagiarism: Video showcase appeared to directly copy animation styles from multiple other properties
  21. Resident Evil 2 remake has passed 5 million sales
  22. Resident Evil 3 remake headlines a handful of PS4 announcements
  23. Sony announces plan to publish PlayStation games on non-PS consoles [updated]
  24. PS4 finally gets Minecraft cross-platform play with Bedrock Edition – Sony overcomes worries about “safety risk” a year and a half after all other platforms connected
  25. Minecraft update brings cross-platform play to PlayStation 4
  26. Minecraft beats Fortnite and GTA as YouTube’s most-watched game of 2019
  27. Choose Your Own Adventure publisher cracks down on Itch.io devs: Chooseco issues trademark infringements to four developers
  28. Starbreeze exits reconstruction, looks toward continued Payday development
  29. Payday 2 won’t see parity on consoles and PC, future Switch updates ‘unlikely’
  30. Starbreeze completes reconstruction process after 12 months: It’s been a “toilsome journey” says CEO Mikael Nermak
  31. Layoffs as mobile developer Gameloft closes UK office
  32. Gameloft UK shuts down: Seven staff affected as mobile giant ditches British presence
  33. Avakin Life dev Lockwood Publishing closes Leamington Spa studio: All four members of staff declined opportunity to move to growing Nottingham studio
  34. The dawn of streaming requires contract revisions: Beiten Burkhardt’s Dr Andreas Lober explains why developers and publishers should check their contracts as services like Google Stadia emerge
  35. Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts
  36. E3 without the lines: System Shock, other games to get 48-hour Steam demos
  37. Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
  38. Google refuses to budge on Play Store fees after Epic asks for Fortnite exemption
  39. Kongregate acquires mobile and browser battle royale shooter Surviv.io
  40. Kongregate acquires browser and mobile 2D battle royale Surviv.io: This marks the publisher’s second acquisition this year, more planned to come
  41. Playrix acquires Eipix Entertainment: Homescapes creator enters Serbian market to create more free-to-play mobile games
  42. Voodoo acquires mobile dev Gumbug
  43. Voodoo acquires Gumbug: Mobile publisher picks up London-based developer of Smash Supreme and Notorious 99
  44. Wildlife Studios raises $60m, now valued at $1.3b: Benchmark leads funding for Sao Paulo studio to grow mobile reach
  45. Tatsuya Minami reportedly starts new, Capcom-backed studio M-Two Inc: Former PlatinumGames president’s Osaka-based team said to be contributing to Resident Evil 3
  46. NetEase launches its own cloud gaming platform in beta: Service currently supports 38 games on mobile, but testers are waiting in long queue times to play
  47. 12 years later, players somehow keep Team Fortress 2 alive on the PS3
  48. The modders who spent 15 years fixing Knights of the Old Republic 2: From missing planets to missing romance options, players are restoring a classic.
  49. FIFA 20 returns to No.1 on EMEAA charts for fifth week since launch: No new major releases and holiday sales kept momentum for Pokemon, Star Wars
  50. UK Charts: No new releases means Mario Kart 8 Deluxe races back to No.3 – Nintendo racer boosted by new Switch bundle, FIFA and COD still top
  51. Sales down 25 percent at close of GameStop’s third quarter 
  52. GameStop Q3 global sales down again, expected full-year decline in the high-teens: Collectible sales was once again the only segment that showed any year-over-year growth
  53. GameStop plans to wind down Nordic presence, close more stores to cut costs
  54. GameStop winding down operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden: 140 stores globally have been closed already this year, 250 to 300 total closures planned by end of 2019
  55. GameStop CEO: Financial struggles are a console issue, not a GameStop issue – George Sherman says industry headwinds are “having an outsized impact on our business”
  56. Black Friday saw US mobile game spending hit nearly $70m: Sensor Tower Marvel Contest of Champions led record single day sales for mobile in the US
  57. Call of Duty Mobile made almost $87m in its first two months: Sensor Tower reports Activision’s smartphone shooter has been downloaded 172 million times
  58. Resident Evil 2 remake surpasses five million sales: Franchise lifetime sales at 94 million
  59. Review aggregator site GameRankings is shutting down
  60. GameRankings to close down after 20 years: Site will go offline on December 9
  61. Rental kiosk Redbox is giving up on video game rentals
  62. Redbox will no longer rent video games: Games will still be sold through the end of the year before it goes movies-only
  63. CD Projekt Red ending Gwent console support to focus on PC and mobile
  64. Mobile developer Wildlife Studios nets $60 million in funding
  65. GAME’s Belong esports division opens 100-seat venue in London: Oxford Street location will be the home of the London Lionhearts esports team
  66. PatronGG secures $1m for esports engagement app Kokyo: Bitkraft leads funding to continue its string of esports investments
  67. Pole to Win opens product development unit: Orange Rock Studios will also contain Orange Rock Esports division
  68. Canada a hub for booming esports industry, says lawyer
  69. TV Academy Unveils First Emmy Category for Esports
  70. The Emmys Adds First Category For Esports, Recognizing Outstanding Journalism
  71. Riot teams up with Louis Vuitton for League of Legends clothing
  72. Riot Games opens publishing label for League of Legends games from other devs 
  73. Amid Flurry Of Departures, Twitch Locks Down DrLupo, LIRIK, TimTheTatman In Exclusive Deals
  74. Twitch signs three exclusivity deals with major streamers: Video platform responds to Ninja and Shroud departure with own deals
  75. Twitch just locked down top streamers DrLupo, TimTheTatman, and Lirik: According to the e-sports consultant Rod Breslau, the deals are potentially worth millions
  76. Skybound Entertainment to make TV series based on DrDisrespect: Scripted, narrative series to focus on origins of popular, contentious Twitch streamer Guy Beahm’s character
  77. Pokemon Go developer Niantic raised $100,000 for STEM programs in 2019
  78. Niantic releases 2019 social impact report: Pokémon Go dev has raised $100,000 for STEM programs, hosted 90,000 players at charity events and picked up 20 elephants’ worth of trash
  79. Niantic and Qualcomm collaborating on augmented reality glasses: Multi-year partnership will see Pokémon Go developer working on hardware and software for new AR platform
  80. ‘Apollo 11 VR’ Studio to Launch ‘Shuttle Commander’ Next Week on PSVR
  81. Fast Travel CEO navigates VR’s speed bumps: With two new VR titles launching in quick succession, Oskar Burman talks about how far the market has come and where it can improve
  82. Oculus is rolling out controller-free hand tracking for the Quest this week
  83. Surprise! Oculus Quest becomes first VR set with native hand tracking—this week
  84. Oculus Quest Hand-tracking Starts Rolling Out This Week, Developer SDK Next Week
  85. Report: Magic Leap laid off ‘dozens’ following slow sales of its debut AR headset
  86. Magic Leap launches upgraded headset, reportedly lays off dozens: Company said to have planned to sell over 100k Magic Leaps in first year, only sold 6k in six months
  87. Niantic and Qualcomm join forces to create new AR glasses
  88. Adobe acquires 3D VR sculpting tool Medium from Facebook
  89. Behind the ingenious audio design of action RPG classic Diablo II
  90. How MechWarrior’s return took me back to the early ‘90s mall in my mind
  91. Brenda Romero breaks down Empire of Sin’s complex relationship system
  92. BioShock will return, but without Ken Levine
  93. Halo Reach on PC is the customizable combat we’ve been wanting—but just barely
  94. How Angry Birds broke the limits for mobile games: Marking the original game’s ten-year anniversary, we take a look at the impact the series had on the industry and the resilience of Rovio
  95. How God of War converted a non-believer – Why I Love: Double Eleven’s Matt Dunthorne says the 2018 revamp turned him from uninterested onlooker into full-on fanboy
  96. Bethesda updating Doom 1, 2 to include select mods like John Romero’s Sigil
  97. Bethesda suspends The Elder Scrolls Legends development
  98. Betheda has halted development on The Elder Scrolls: Legends
  99. Elder Scrolls Legends development “on hold for the foreseeable future”: Bethesda no longer making new content for fantasy card battler, but will continue support with monthly rewards and regular events
  100. Minecraft is most popular game on YouTube in 2019 with 100bn views: Controversial YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg drives popularity of Minecraft as Fortnite settles
  101. People of the Year 2019: Sam Barlow: We speak to the Telling Lies director about showcasing the true potential of interactive narrative in video games
  102. Rockstar and Nintendo fill top five in Metacritic’s Games of the 2010s: Mario Galaxy 2, Breath of the Wild, Red Dead 2, GTA V and Mario Odyssey all had 97 average ratings
  103. IndieBI: Superhot Team’s biz dev platform that helps indies stay indie – Business developer Tomas Kaczmarczyk on why good business intelligence benefits the whole industry
  104. Kalypso opens third internal studio to work on ‘next-gen’ Commandos title
  105. Kalypso opening third German studio: New team will work on next-gen Commandos title from the greater Frankfurt area
  106. Report: iDreamSky in talks to acquire Leyou Technologies for $1.4 billion 
  107. iDreamSky in talks to buy Leyou: Mobile publisher would get controlling interest in fellow Chinese outfit with stakes in Digital Extremes, Splash Damage, SNK Playmore
  108. Imgur Launches New ‘Melee’ App Where Users Can Host, Discover Gaming Memes
  109. Staying Alive: How some indies are setting their studios up for survival
  110. Blog: How Ghost Recon Breakpoint broke the rules of player intel
  111. Blog: How do bullets work in video games?
  112. Blog: Building a procedurally generated Hearthstone
  113. Blog: Five books to help you better understand player behavior
  114. Blog: Sharing accessible narratives through environmental design
  115. Blog: Emotional context in decision design
  116. Blog: Turning a negative Steam review into a positive
  117. Blog: Getting your big break as a game composer (2020 edition)
  118. Watch Russ Bullock break down the dev process for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries
  119. Video: How women-in-games initiatives make a difference
  120. Video: How Eve Online addressed exploit abuse with customer care
  121. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
  122. Best of 2019: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams
  123. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
  124. Best of 2019: Exploring the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
  125. People of the Year 2019: Yu Suzuki – Shenmue III came out 18 years after its predecessor and picked up exactly where it left off
  126. People of the Year 2019: Media Molecule – The full version of Dreams will launch on February 14 — and Media Molecule spent 2019 paving the way for its success
  127. People of the Year 2019: Hermen Hulst – Guerrilla Games’ former MD on the journey from Killzone to Horizon Zero Dawn, and his next challenge as PlayStation’s head of Worldwide Studios
  128. The Year of PR Disasters – 2019 in Review: Industry figures and companies said or did ridiculous, inappropriate, and outright harmful things… and got away with it
  129. The state of PC gaming in 2019.
  130. Video Game Deep Cuts: PlayStation’s 25th, Top Games Of 2019
  131. Industry-backed campaign encourages gamers to vote: Gamechanger Giveaway offers prizes in effort to increase voter turnout
  132. Steam to host demos for The Game Awards digital spin-off event The Game Festival
  133. Mourning the end of the video game rental era
  134. A nebbishy bank teller discovers he’s trapped in a video game in Free Guy

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; December 4, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 11, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West: Beijing’s pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent.
  2. Ukraine condemns Apple for calling Crimea part of Russia in its apps
  3. Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
  4. Apple ‘taking a deeper look’ at map policies after calling Crimea part of Russia
  5. Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
  6. When politi-fact veers into politi-fiction, broadcast and internet advertising rules diverge sharply
  7. As Devin Nunes Threatens More SLAPP Suits, He May Have To Explain Why Cows Can Type In His First SLAPP Suit
  8. Devin Nunes Follows Through And Sues CNN In Laughably Dumb SLAPP Suit
  9. Tony Robbins Crosses The Atlantic For Some Libel Tourism In Ireland; Files SLAPP Suit Against Buzzfeed
  10. Human rights standards apply to online sellers on sites such as Kijiji, says N.L. Human Rights case­­­­­­­­­­­­
  11. Copyright Troll Threatens Criminal Charges In Germany Against Domain Registrar
  12. Warner Music and Sony Music win copyright case against internet music radio service TuneIn
  13. Capitol Records v ReDigi appeal decision
  14. TekSavvy Appeals Canada’s First Site-Blocking Order
  15. Canadian ISP Teksavvy Fights Back Against Overbroad Copyright ‘Blocking Order’ For GoldTV
  16. A Tale of Two Copyright Decisions: Canada’s Federal Court Issues First Site-Blocking Order & Denies Certification of Reverse Class Action Test Case
  17. Justices debate allowing state law to be “hidden behind a pay wall”
  18. Copyright Clash to Receive Supreme Treatment
  19. The US’s reaction to France’s DST
  20. Notifying Twitter of TOS Violations Isn’t Tortious Interference–Illoominate v. CAIR (Eric Goldman)
  21. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: That Time Twitter Nazis Got A Reporter Barred From Twitter Over Some Jokes
  22. Online harmful content: the race to regulate
  23. Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Increase Internet Transparency and Consumer Control Over Content
  24. Microsoft shareholders reject call for gender pay gap report: Additional proposal to report on employee representation on board of directors also dismissed
  25. Twitter introduces a Privacy Center to keep users informed: Its new privacy policies go into effect January 1st.
  26. Intimidation or Free Speech: Are Trump’s Tweets Witness Tampering?
  27. Study Says Russian Trolls Didn’t Have Much Influence On Election; But It’s More Complicated Than That
  28. Assessing the Russian Internet Research Agency’s impact on the political attitudes and behaviors of American Twitter users in late 2017
  29. Facebook Now Altering Users’ Posts To Add Singapore Government’s ‘Fake News’ Warnings
  30. Facebook updates crisis response tools, adds WhatsApp integration
  31. UNC Gave Racists $2.5 Million To Settle A Lawsuit That Hadn’t Been Filed Yet, And The Racists Are Abusing The DMCA To Hide The Details
  32. Amazon Faces Widening U.S. Antitrust Scrutiny in Cloud Business
  33. Intellectual Property Alert: Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
  34. CreateSpace Isn’t Liable for Publishing Allegedly Infringing Uploaded Book–King v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
  35. Copyright, State Sovereignty, and Pirates: Some Thoughts on Oral Argument in Allen v. Cooper
  36. This free tool maps propaganda and misinformation as it goes viral
  37. The Baby Yoda gif debacle exposes the messy world of meme law: Gifs from The Mandalorian went viral on social media. But then they disappeared
  38. Why Baby Yoda Unequivocally, Unfortunately Rules (Column): The breakout star of ‘The Mandalorian’ is impossibly cute for a reason.
  39. TikTok Moderators Were Told To Suppress Videos Made By Marginalized Users Because They Might Be Bullied
  40. TikTok Apologizes After Banning A Teen Whose Video About Muslims In China Went Viral
  41. TikTok’s parent company sued for collecting data on kids: Everything’s coming up COPPA
  42. CJEU: Courts may Order Host Providers to Take Down Illegal Content
  43. Instagram finally launches 13+ age checkups
  44. Quibi Picks Up Kendall Jenner-Produced Series Based On Parody Instagram Account
  45. Insta-Famous Lil Bub, A Special Needs Cat Known For Her Altruism, Has Passed Away At Age 8
  46. Insights: ‘Tis The Season For Instagram Sponsored Posts, But Perhaps ‘Tis Too Much?
  47. Sundar Pichai becomes CEO of Alphabet and Google, as Larry Page steps down
  48. Facebook’s new tool lets you transfer pictures to Google Photos: Available worldwide in first half of 2020
  49. Fired Google employees accuse company of union-busting: Group will take grievances to National Labor Relations Board “as a first step”
  50. Google workers fired amid organization efforts file retaliation complaint
  51. Certiorari Granted in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.
  52. Google attempts to protect users from sketchy stem cell clinics
  53. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin step back from executive roles: Sundar Pichai to assume role as CEO of both Google and Alphabet, founders will remain on board
  54. YouTube says viewers are spending less time watching conspiracy videos. But many still do.
  55. YouTube Says Watch-Time On ‘Borderline’ Content By Non-Subscribers Has Dropped 70% This Year
  56. YouTube Has Removed At Least 300 Donald Trump Campaign Ads Since 2016
  57. YouTube Says Creators Could See Subscriptions Drop As It Purges Shuttered Accounts
  58. Olivia Jade Returns To YouTube Nine Months After College Admissions Scandal
  59. YouTubers Attempt Levitation In BBC Original ‘The Edge Of Science’
  60. Netflix And YouTube’s Share Of Daily Viewership To Drop As Field Grows (Study)
  61. How To Make A ‘Heist’: Markiplier’s Interactive Special Is A Whole New Kind Of Content For YouTube
  62. TYT Launches 24-Hour Channel On Xfinity X1, As Election Coverage Looms
  63. BBTV Signs Five Creators, Including Purposeful Prankster ThatWasEpic, Rapper-Skater Roy Purdy
  64. FTC Releases Disclosure Manual for Social Media Influencers
  65. Retailer Reminder: FTC Releases Guidance for Social Media Influencers
  66. Collab Asia, A Spin-Off Of The U.S.-Based Influencer Network, Raises $7.5 Million Series B
  67. Updated Advice and Practical Tips from the FTC for Social Media Influencers and the Companies that Hire Them
  68. Content Changes Challenge YouTube Creators; FTC to the Rescue
  69. The FTC Issues a New Disclosure Guide for Influencers
  70. Spotify offers half-price annual subscription in India
  71. Online shopping on Thanksgiving hit $4.2B, up 14.5% on 2018, 45% of sales via mobile
  72. Black Friday shoppers spent more in stores, broke records online over the weekend
  73. Never mind the naysayers: Emoji are a vital part of online communication
  74. ICANN report wipes the smile off emoji domains
  75. Blockchain Basics: Global Regulations
  76. Developer faces prison time for giving blockchain talk in North Korea
  77. Blockchain and the Financial Industry
  78. The Future of Stablecoins—Anything But Stable?
  79. Lawyer ‘monopoly’ hampers consumer access to legal tech, says former AG Chris Bentley
  80. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 34: The Fight to Save the Dot-Org (Michael Geist)
  81. Honouring Ian Kerr’s Legacy: University of Ottawa Launches the Kerr Fellows Program (Michael Geist)
  82. Half an operating system: The triumph and tragedy of OS/2
  83. Geo-blocking or global take-down
  84. What You Should Know before Launching a Website or App
  85. Tech Regulation Series: The End of Permissionless Innovation?
  86. Ambush Marketing in the Digital Age
  87. Cross-Border Supplies of Intangible Services, Digital Content and Rights: Global VAT Guide – Fourth edition – November 2019
  88. Launch of .ευ
  89. Brexit from another angle: Domain names and donkeys
  90. Competition Law and the Digital Economy in Canada

A.I.

  1. Senators want answers about algorithms that provide black patients less healthcare
  2. To stop a tech apocalypse we need ethics and the arts
  3. How neural networks work—and why they’ve become a big business
  4. Life Under the Algorithm: How a relentless speedup is reshaping the working class
  5. Quantum computing’s also-rans and their fatal flaws 
  6. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Usher Changes to Patent Law
  7. Patents – When artificial intelligence authors the invention
  8. Designing strategically intelligent AI in Halo Wars 2
  9. AI Innovators Should Be Listening to Kids: Input from the next generation is crucial when it comes to navigating the challenges of new technologies. (Urs Gasser)
  10. Robots Are Taking Over (the Rental Screening Process): Landlords are using artificial intelligence to vet prospective renters
  11. What should newsrooms do about deepfakes? These three things, for starters: Researchers argue the dangers of deepfakes are overblown, but require journalists to give thought to how they handle unconfirmed information. 

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Canada’s New Internet Code
  2. Huawei funds $56M in academic research in Canada. That has some experts concerned
  3. Huawei is now shipping smartphones with zero US components
  4. Current “Whole of Government” Approach to Perceived National Security Risks from Chinese Technology Reflected in the FCC’s Latest Universal Service Fund Order
  5. The True Impact of the Chinese Telecom Ban on Government Contractors
  6. FCC Seeks Comment on All-Digital AM and Radio Non-Duplication NPRM
  7. DOJ Wimps Out On Wireless Sector eSIM Antitrust Investigation
  8. Mobile industry has stifled eSIM—and the DOJ is demanding change
  9. Prison Telecom Monopolies Bring Their ‘Innovation’ To Prison Ebooks
  10. Priority Filing Deadline Set for Tribes’ Access to Spectrum
  11. 5G on the horizon: Here’s what it is and what’s coming
  12. T-Mobile’s ‘Nationwide’ 5G Isn’t Nationwide, Only Slightly Faster Than 4G
  13. T-Mobile touts “nationwide 5G” that fails to cover 130 million Americans
  14. FCC tries to bury finding that Verizon and T-Mobile exaggerated 4G coverage
  15. FCC to Propose National Crisis Hotline, Tackle Mid-Band Spectrum Items at December Meeting
  16. FCC Suspends the Processing of Renewal Applications for the 470-512 MHz Spectrum Band (T-Band)
  17. Vulnerability in fully patched Android phones under active attack by bank thieves
  18. Librem 5 backers have begun receiving their Linux phones
  19. What is a Prerecorded Call for TCPA Purposes?: The Czar and the Baron Speak with the FCC to Push for Clarity on this Critical Issue 
  20. IoT Update: FCC Proposes New Spectrum Plan for Vehicle Safety and Unlicensed Uses
  21. Today’s Hot Topic: News Simulatio
  22. AMFM Act Introduced in Congress to Impose Sound Recording Performance Royalty on Broadcast Stations
  23. Telecoms Law Update – The Right to Survey Clarified by the Court of Appeal 
  24. Court of Appeal confirms that telecoms operators can obtain Code rights to carry out site visits
  25. AT&T says TV losses have peaked after latest loss of 1.3 million customers 

PRIVACY

  1. Cell Phone Searches at the Border: What you need to know
  2. Egyptian Government Plans To Track The Movement Of 10 Million Vehicles With Low-Cost RFID Stickers
  3. New Iranian wiper discovered in attacks on Middle Eastern companies
  4. Cops Are Running Ring Camera Footage Through Their Own Facial Recognition Software Because Who’s Going To Stop Them
  5. Draft Code of Practice: securing the Internet of Things for consumers
  6. IoT patent owners still hold the future in their own hands – but the clock is ticking
  7. HackerOne breach lets outside hacker read customers’ private bug reports
  8. Code Blue: Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities for Medical Device Makers Require Urgent Care
  9. Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn’t Extend To Its Marketing Materials
  10. Wireless ISP Starry Says It Will Apply California’s Privacy Requirements Nationwide
  11. Payment card-skimming malware targeting 4 sites found on Heroku cloud platform
  12. The (Extra) Territorial Scope of the GDPR: The Right to Be Forgotten
  13. Revised Guidelines on the Territorial Scope of the GDPR and Local Representatives
  14. The Right to be Forgotten Shoots the Shark
  15. Privacy & Cybersecurity Update: November 2019
  16. EU Cookie Compliance: Getting Ready for 2020
  17. The Digitization of Vehicles: Privacy Concerns
  18. New crypto-cracking record reached, with less help than usual from Moore’s Law

CREATIVITY

  1. Federal Court rejects controversial copyright litigation strategy
  2. Right of publicity in Canada
  3. Artist wins court battle to stop luxury watchmakers from cutting up his painting
  4. Intellectual Property Update – Is there protection in an idea?
  5. Copyright licenses are as easy as a quick few words
  6. New Balance v Liverpool FC
  7. Want To See Pete Davidson Do Standup? There’s An NDA You Have To Sign First…
  8. Musk takes the stand in first day of “pedo guy” trial
  9. Proving bad faith at registration time could be a good ‘Techtrend’
  10. Tenuous Common-Law Trademark Rights Inadequate to Sustain UDRP Complaint
  11. Exhaustion of trademark rights: Barcelona Court of Appeal rules in Schweppes case
  12. Cambridge University repatriate bronze cockerel to Nigeria
  13. Eco-friendly or falsely advertised? Sustainable fashion advertising in Europe: do’s and don’ts
  14. State’s Rejection Of Driver’s ‘IMGOD’ Vanity Plate Unconstitutional, Federal Court Rules
  15. Author Tries To Trademark The Word ‘Dark’ For All Of Literary Fiction

GAMES

  1. Riot Games to pay $10 million in gender discrimination settlement
  2. Riot Games to Pay $10 Million to Settle Gender-Discrimination Lawsuit
  3. Riot Games offers female employees $10 million in settlement
  4. Riot Games to pay out $10m to former employees in gender discrimination settlement: Total will be spread across up to around 1,000 former women employees
  5. Ragnarok files legal complaint against Human Head Studios over Rune II assets
  6. Ex-Human Head devs sued by Rune II publisher: Ragnarok Game accuses defunct studio and its co-founders of fraud, holding game assets hostage
  7. Pausing the Game: Take-Two Seeks to Pause WWE Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
  8. EA removes Marco van Basten from FIFA 20 after Nazi comment: Former Netherlands striker was suspended from working at Fox Sports last month
  9. Are publishers doing enough with their brands? | Opinion: EA hasn’t produced much with the Star Wars brand, and it’s not alone among publishers in the west — it’s high time they took some lessons from Japan
  10. Quantic Dream on the hook for €7,000 for allowing vulgar images to circulate
  11. Quantic Dream to pay former employee €7,000 over offensive photoshopped image: Tribunal found the Detroit Become Human developer guilty of having breached the security obligation it has towards its employees
  12. Overcoming unconscious bias in the games industry: Diversity advocates Cinzia Musio and Leon Killin discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, and how to foster an inclusive studio
  13. Atari VCS enters final stages of pre-production following series of delays: “Atari will always prioritise delivering a high-quality product over a self-imposed deadline,” says Atari VCS COO
  14. Patrice Désilets: Ancestors fell foul of critics’ expectations – “People expected my studio of 35 people to ship a game that is close to Assassin’s Creed — and it’s just not possible”
  15. Campo Santo’s In the Valley of the Gods on hold as team shifts to Valve projects
  16. Firewatch developer’s next game “on hold” after Valve acquisition
  17. A group of senior Ubisoft devs have joined Google’s in-house Stadia studio 
  18. Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed developers to build Stadia games: Three experienced Ubisoft staff join Jade Raymond’s Stadia Games and Entertainment studio
  19. Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
  20. Call of Duty Mobile is Google Play’s best game of 2019: Tencent and Activision collaboration won top award as well as users’ choice and best competitive
  21. Report: A cheaper Project Scarlett alternative remains in Xbox’s next gen plans
  22. The next Xbox is in the wild, connecting to current-gen Xbox One players
  23. Xbox One was the UK No.1 games console over Black Friday: It narrowly beat Switch, but Nintendo generated the most revenue from hardware sales
  24. Microsoft’s cheaper, discless next-gen Xbox reportedly still in the works: New report indicates Lockhart still planned as a logical fit with Game Pass, xCloud
  25. Valve Index Backordered Until After Christmas Due to “recent high demand” in Some Regions
  26. Half-Life Alyx changes the game for VR exclusives | Opinion: Never mind the hardware — Valve is dipping deep into its own playbook to become the default storefront for VR software
  27. Why Steam’s discoverability improvements may still mean your game won’t sell
  28. CD Projekt dismisses investor fears over Cyberpunk and Half-Life: Alyx release clash: “That niche is very, very, very — and I could add a few ‘verys’ here — small”
  29. CD Projekt Red will shut down Gwent on consoles: Players will be able to copy accounts to PC, mobile via GOG
  30. ‘Angry Birds Movie 2 VR’ Studio Raises $2M to Continue Development on AR/VR Games
  31. Microsoft Affirms VR Isn’t a Focus for Xbox Scarlett
  32. Phil Spencer: “Nobody’s asking for VR” on Xbox – Xbox boss cites concerns with VR’s form and popularity in strategy around Microsoft’s next console
  33. Xbox boss: We want to deliver a new first-party game ‘every three or four months’
  34. XR Games secures £1.5m investment: Virtual and augmented reality studio looks to grow team and portfolio
  35. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: How unconscious bias is holding back the industry – This week the team discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, the benefits of diversity, and the slow progress of virtual reality
  36. Rocketwerkz CEO shares how and why the studio offers unlimited time off
  37. Dean Hall’s Rocketwerkz offers unlimited annual leave: Most experienced staff get unlimited sick days, and four weeks minimum annual leave with no cap
  38. Super Mario Maker 2 becomes Super Zelda Maker with playable Link
  39. Super Mario Maker 2’s first big update brings new mode, playable Link
  40. Nintendo Switch sees best US sales week ever: Thanksgiving week saw a total of 830k Nintendo Switch and Lite units sold
  41. The Switch sold over 830,000 units during Thanksgiving week alone
  42. Nintendo and Tencent have set a launch date for the Switch in China
  43. Tencent launching Nintendo Switch in China next week: Will cost 2,099 yuan (approx $300), comes with New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe demo and a one-year warranty
  44. Nintendo to launch Switch in China on Dec. 10 priced $300
  45. Nintendo Switch sees best ever week of sales in US as it prepares to enter China
  46. Football Manager 2020 releases at No. 1 in EMEAA charts: Football Manager beats out Q4 big-hitters, but otherwise charts remain steady as holiday season looms
  47. Sea of Thieves is No.4 as Black Friday transforms UK Charts: FIFA 20 is No.1 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare takes No.2
  48. Black Friday weekend digital game spending reached record $4.36b: In-game spending in free-to-play games up 13% YOY as digital interest continues to grow
  49. Shenmue III comes up short in the Japanese chart: Ys Net’s sequel failed to make waves in its home market, with less than 18k sales on PS4
  50. The truth about revenue sharing | Opinion: Revenue sharing has allowed great games to be made, says Unlock Audio’s Elliot Callighan, but it’s also used as a crutch by inexperienced teams
  51. An inside look at one indie dev-publisher relationship (with contract details!)
  52. What will the next UK gaming IPO look like? | Opinion: Liberum’s Andrew Bryant reflects on the flood of floatations in the last two years, and discusses why the next will need to be different
  53. Codemasters acquires Project Cars developer Slightly Mad Studios
  54. Codemasters acquires Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios: Racing studio grows to 700 people
  55. Codemasters buys Slightly Mad Studios for $30m: Project CARS studio will join the UK publisher in a deal that could rise by $67m based on three-year earnout clause
  56. Persona 5 has topped 3.2 million sales worldwide
  57. In the Valley of Gods “on hold” indefinitely: Former Campo Santo devs now at Valve have moved to other projects, including Half-Life: Alyx
  58. Pathfinder: Kingmaker dev Owlcat Games raises $1 million to fund new project
  59. Peripheral maker Logitech pledges to become carbon neutral by 2030
  60. YouTube no longer equates video game and real-world violence for age restrictions
  61. YouTube’s new gaming policy will allow creators to produce more violent footage: Advertising concerns are still high on creators’ agendas
  62. YouTube lightens restrictions on violent video game content: Policy update aims to better reflect difference between real-world and simulated violence
  63. YouTube Officially Separates Ad Policies For Video Game And Real-World Violence
  64. Dicebreaker launches news and reviews site to serve thriving tabletop community: Editor-in-chief Matt Jarvis discusses how the games industry can capitalise on the explosive growth of board games
  65. Streaming startup Genvid nets $27 million to expand ‘dev-grade’ broadcasting platform
  66. Twitch introduces new dashboard so more people can create livestreams
  67. ESL reportedly shuts down Spain, France branches, UK is “at risk”: Esports league tells GamesIndustry.biz no offices have closed, but are being restructured
  68. Counter-Strike World Champions Aim for First Esport Team IPO
  69. Astralis Group plans first ever IPO for an esports team: Danish Counter-Strike outfit seeks as much as €20 million from December 9 listing
  70. Esports Laws of the World
  71. Star Citizen hits $250m raised through crowdfunding: Almost 2.5m players have now funded the game, which is closing in on $300m in total investment
  72. Genvid closes $27m Series B round: Interactive streaming tech firm has also opened new offices in Berlin and California
  73. Area28 raises $2.15m for cloud-based development platform: Technology will add “significant value to the game development process” says Alibaba investor
  74. XR Games raises £1.5 million for new projects and staff
  75. Owlcat Games raises $1m for new Pathfinder video game: Gem Capital and My.Games investment arm lead funding for Moscow studio’s second foray into Pathfinder
  76. Persona 5 has sold 3.2m copies worldwide: Latest edition Persona 5 Royal has sold 400,000 copies in Japan, series’ lifestime sales now past 11 million
  77. Meet the young developer turning her severe anxiety into a games career
  78. “Winning and measuring engagement is no longer enough”: Midia’s Karol Severin warns entertainment firms should be measuring positive sentiment in this age of abundance
  79. Over 450 million PlayStation home consoles have been sold in 25 years
  80. PlayStations 1 to 4 have sold more than 450 million systems: Sony touts Guinness record for “best-selling home video game console brand ever”
  81. Don’t Miss: A brief history of PlayStation, from one-time frontman Phil Harrison
  82. The $0 marketing game guide
  83. Blog: Breaking down the Steam sales of Battle Royale Tycoon
  84. Blog: An introduction to wargame design – Part 1
  85. Blog: The perception of fairness in games
  86. Blog: Lessons learned from building a digital board game business
  87. Video: Breathing life into the machines of Horizon Zero Dawn
  88. Video: How Oddworld solved its narrative problems with mind control
  89. Video: A game dev’s guide to designing games with social impact
  90. Best of 2019: The ‘Door Problem’ of combat design
  91. Best of 2019: Downscaling, upscaling, same-scaling – Porting to Switch and under-powered consoles
  92. How “randomizers” are breathing new life into old games
  93. Video Games Without Borders wins UN Refugee Agency’s Innovation Award: Non-profit studio was selected from 259 entries for its mobile game promoting literacy and well-being among Syrian children
  94. Logitech commits to carbon neutrality by 2030: “We want to leave our mark on the future. We know that mark can be positive or negative, depending on the large and small decisions we make every day,” says CEO
  95. People of the Year 2019: Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham – We explore the legacy of Humble Bundle’s co-founders in the first of this year’s series on outstanding contributions to the industry
  96. People of the Year 2019: Remedy Entertainment: The Finnish studio’s bid for independence was about building a more stable future — Control proved it was also about creating the best possible games
  97. People of the Year 2019: SonicFox and Blitzchung – In a year where major industry figures were increasingly reluctant to take stances, two esports pros used their reach to demand change
  98. People of the Year 2019: Playing for the Planet Alliance – Unifying against climate change is the first of many steps the games industry must take
  99. The state of Xbox One in 2019.
  100. The state of the PlayStation 4 in 2019.
  101. The state of the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
  102. EA donating $500,000 to Team Trees: Donation, in the name of new Plants Vs Zombies game, will see half a million trees planted by January 1, 2020
  103. Apple has named the best iOS games of 2019
  104. Sky Children of the Light and Hyper Light Drifter among Apple’s Games of the Year: Meanwhile, Mario Kart Tour and Minecraft top most downloaded charts and The Gardens Between honoured in Apple Design Awards
  105. Google Play names Call of Duty: Mobile as best Android game of 2019
  106. Did “Fewer, Bigger, Better” actually work? – 10 Years Ago This Month: Major publishers have been narrowing their release slates for years, but has it produced the intended results?
  107. The Game Theorists’ Star-Studded Stream Raises $1.3 Million — And Counting — For St. Jude
  108. E3 media study shows declining media attendance, coverage: ESA says over 3,700 members of the media attended E3 in 2019
  109. U.S. Patent no. 10,258,880: Dynamic selection of voice quality over a wireless system
  110. U.S. Patent no. 10,258,882: Recording companion

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; November 27, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 3, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. Surprised about Mark Zuckerberg’s secret meeting with Trump? Don’t be
  2. Facebook and Twitter data was exposed to developers through app store bug
  3. Facebook is building an Instagram-style Close Friends feature: ‘Favorites’ sorts your actual friends from your Facebook acquaintances
  4. Instagram Campaign Use Grows — But What Could The Removal Of Likes Mean For Creators?
  5. Instagram’s @bitch Isn’t Your Typical Social Video Aggregator. It Actually Credits Content Creators And Licenses Their Work.
  6. Singapore Government Tests Out Its Fake News Law Against An Opposition Party Leader
  7. TikTok issues public apology for suspending the account of the teen behind the viral Chinese takedown video disguised as a makeup tutorial
  8. YouTube Is Still Struggling To Label Videos From State-Controlled Outlets
  9. Germany’s CDU, Angela Merkel’s Party Of Fuddy-Duddies, Decides To Join The Cool Kids: Backs Open Standards, Open Source, Open Data, Open APIs — Open Everything
  10. Google fires four employees at center of worker organization efforts
  11. Google Photos rolls out manual face tagging: Tutorial, benefits, and a big asterisk
  12. Google bans microtargeting and “false claims” in political ads: Google’s new policy, like Twitter’s, is a shot across Facebook’s bow.
  13. Google Permits Sports Betting Advertisements
  14. Google Updates Its Political Advertising Policies
  15. Supreme Court to Weigh in on Google-Oracle Copyright Dispute
  16. A seismic cert – what to watch out for following the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Google v Oracle
  17. Copyright Troll Mathew Higbee Demands ~$1,000 For Image Only His Team Viewed
  18. Indiana manipulated report on Amazon worker’s death to lure HQ2, investigation says
  19. State ignored worker death to lure Amazon business, report says
  20. Amazon: Cops Can Get Recordings From Ring, Keep Them Forever, And Share Them With Whoever They Want
  21. Court Says It’s Not Tortious Interference To Report Your Account Or Ask Twitter To Ban You
  22. Twitter halts plan to remove inactive accounts until it can memorialize dead users: The company apologized for confusion around its plan to remove accounts
  23. Twitter Just Confirmed A Better Way To Secure Your Account
  24. Twitter will remove inactive accounts and free up usernames in December: No exact date for when usernames will be available
  25. When Does a Tweet Fall Afoul of Regulation FD
  26. Photographer Doubles Down On Tweet Copyright Protection
  27. The Sketchy, Sketchy Case Of ICANN Execs And Self-Dealing Regarding The .Org Domain
  28. Love Baby Yoda, you must
  29. People can’t stop sharing Baby Yoda memes (and we don’t want them to)
  30. Baby Yoda GIFs Removed Over Disney Copyright Issues: Leave our precious powerful alien infant alone!
  31. Adorable ‘Baby Yoda’ GIFs return after Giphy mix-up: Disney wasn’t responsible for removing the cute little scamp.
  32. Disney+’s The Mandalorian joins a long list of fake HDR content, analysis finds
  33. Viacom’s Pluto TV Launches 24-Hour AwesomenessTV Channel In The U.K.
  34. Former Devin Nunes’ Aide Uses Nunes’ Lawyer To File SLAPP Suit Against Politico
  35. Alexander Vindman Now Threatens Bogus SLAPP Suit Against Fox News & Laura Ingraham
  36. Google Will No Longer Allow Political Ad Targeting Based On Party Affiliation, Voter Records
  37. Google Assistant can now navigate websites, book movie tickets
  38. Google will pay $1.5 million for the most severe Android exploits
  39. Google is killing Google Cloud Print
  40. Rehearing Briefs in Enigma Software v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
  41. Review Services Aren’t Liable for Removing Business Profiles (and Associated Reviews)–PCS v. HomeAdvisor (Eric Goldman)
  42. More Evidence That Print-on-Demand Vendors May Be Doomed–Greg Young Publishing v. Zazzle (Eric Goldman)
  43. Be careful with your AdWords: The German Federal Court of Justice sets a limit on the use of keywords for online advertising
  44. Content and Conduct: How English Wikipedia Moderates Harmful Speech
  45. Why can’t Internet companies stop awful content? – Opinion: Section 230 already got the balance right.
  46. Sacha Baron Cohen Is Wrong About Social Media, Wrong About Section 230… And Even Wrong About His Own Comedy
  47. Potential Amendments To CDA Section 230 Relating to Immunity Provided To Internet Intermediaries
  48. Despite clear warnings, Europe is out of IP addresses—again
  49. CCPA – Adtech Update
  50. The Impact of Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, and Other Online Ordering and Delivery Platforms on your Franchise Agreement
  51. Netflix Starts To Harden Its Stance On Password Sharing
  52. Netflix Clinches More K-Dramas In Multiyear Deals With Studio Dragon, JTBC
  53. Netflix cancels its Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival
  54. The Librem 5 has been “shipping” for a month—but not to backers
  55. Bill Nye, Casey Neistat, iJustine Among Guests For Marques Brownlee’s YouTube Original ‘Retro Tech’
  56. YouTube Test Matching “Edgy” Creators And Advertisers Has Resulted In Hundreds Of Thousands In Ad Dollars
  57. YouTube Launches Largest ‘Masthead’ Ad Format On TV Screens Globally
  58. YouTube Powerhouse ‘Bon Appétit’ Launches Linear Channel On Samsung TV Plus
  59. YouTube Millionaires: Sierra Schultzzie Tries It All On In Her Adventurous, Body-Positive Videos
  60. ‘Ryan’s World’ Continues Global Domination With Japanese-Language YouTube Hub
  61. Epidemic Sound, A Music Licensor For Creators, Onboards YouTube, Spotify Vet Kate Vale
  62. Spotify Faces Lawsuit From Indie Music Company Claiming Mistreatment
  63. Just in case you didn’t get the message – Apple issues SEP FRAND statement
  64. Apple and Intel Sue SoftBank-Funded Patent Troll, Claiming Antitrust Violations For Patent Trolling
  65. Apple cancels theatrical premiere of its Oscar hopeful, The Banker
  66. Apple Pulls “The Banker” From Premiere After Sexual Abuse Claims Against Real-Life Subject’s Son
  67. To cut down on bugs, Apple is changing how it develops its software
  68. ‘Rick And Morty’, Adult Swim Drive Social Video Views Amid Show’s Highly-Anticipated Return
  69. Liza Koshy’s Latest Hosting Gig Is A Dance Competition Series For Quibi
  70. Hey influencers! The FTC is talking to you – new guidance from the FTC
  71. FTC Releases Sponsorship Disclosure Guide for Influencers on Social Media
  72. Influencer Disclosure Update 101, Courtesy of the FTC
  73. Influencer Marketing Pioneer ‘Best Fiends’ Taps Joey Graceffa, LaBrant Fam For Latest Launch
  74. How MagicLinks Is Measuring Influencers’ Sales Data To Help Them Know Their Worth
  75. UTA Signs Viral TikTok Star Brittany ‘Kombucha Girl’ Tomlinson (Exclusive)
  76. Insights: College Sports Is About To Unleash An Influencer Deluge
  77. Shane Dawson Concludes Jeffree Star Series With 142 Million Collective Views
  78. Browser Extension ‘Honey’, A Frequent Shane Dawson And MrBeast Sponsor, Acquired For $4 Billion
  79. Donut Media Drives In Creators MatPat, Linus Tech Tips, Gus Johnson, ChrisFix For Kia Challenge Series
  80. Internet radio streams and the communication to the public right in Warner Music & Sony Music v TuneIn Inc.
  81. Spotify’s Plans For Podcast Domination Involve Deals With Ryland Adams, Lele Pons
  82. Spotify Awards to Debut in 2020, Geared to Mexico & Latin America
  83. Spotify Is Launching Its Own Music Awards, Based on Streaming Data
  84. Understanding Regulation of Cookies
  85. Facebook posts that revealed client info bring public reprimand for MA lawyer
  86. WayBack machine, a valid tool to verify a prior version of a web page
  87. Private equity firm buys .org domain months after ICANN lifted price caps
  88. The right T-shirt may increase medical implant’s battery life
  89. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts
  90. Cryptoassets: UK Jurisdiction Taskforce Publishes Statement
  91. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts – the breakdown
  92. Blockchain Basics: What GCs Need to Know About the Disruptive Technology
  93. What does the FBI regard as the main cybercrimes? A closer look at the typologies
  94. Voltage v. Salna + ~55,000 – Costs Implications of Dismissal of Reverse Class Action Certification Motion (Howard Knopf)
  95. Website “Blocking Orders” Now Available In Canada
  96. Can Canadian Courts Issue Site-Blocking Orders?
  97. Federal Court Issues Site-Blocking Order for ISPs
  98. Teksavvy Fights Back Against GoldTV Website Blocking Order – Interveners: Start Your Engines (Howard Knopf)
  99. Canadian Copyright Website Blocking Underway As TekSavvy Appeals Federal Court Ruling (Michael Geist)
  100. The Curious Case Of The Bogus CC License On A 3D Scan Of A 3000-Year-Old Bust Of Nefertiti
  101. Rana Foroohar On How Tech Lost Its Way
  102. Kate Klonick On Facebook’s Oversight Board
  103. Digital assets and estate planning
  104. Is it time to turn away from touchscreens in our cars?
  105. Ubuntu 19.10: It’s fast, like “make old hardware feel new” fast

A.I.

  1. NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency
  2. When Innovation Creates: Additional Developments in Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  3. Can artificial intelligence systems patent their inventions?
  4. “The UK Patents Act leaves no doubt that an inventor is a person…”
  5. Sony establishes AI R&D division: New organisation will have offices in Japan, the US and Europe
  6. FaceIt asking players to help train Minerva AI in fairly tackling toxicity: Upcoming Justice update will allow Counter-Strike community to review cases flagged by the machine learning tool
  7. To secure a safer future for AI, we need the benefit of a female perspective
  8. How A.I. Invoice Review Actually Works (Legal Tech Lesson)
  9. How will AI transform the management of Intellectual Property?
  10. Intel Core i9-10980XE—a step forward for AI, a step back for everything else

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Competition Bureau Continues Advocacy on Telecom Competition and Regulation
  2. Cable Execs Now Falsely Claiming Cord Cutting Is Slowing Down
  3. Huawei Files SLAPP Suits In France Against Critics Who Highlighted The Company’s Ties To The Chinese Government
  4. FCC finalizes ban on Huawei and ZTE equipment in Universal Service Fund
  5. FCC Adopts Order Restricting USF Funding on Huawei/ZTE; Possible Future Ban on All Equipment
  6. FCC Proposes Rules Eliminating Outdated Network Unbundling/Resale Requirements
  7. FCC Proposes Rules to Remove Bad Actors from Federally-Funded Programs
  8. Third Circuit Denies Petition for Rehearing of Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes
  9. Empty T-Mobile Promises Convince Texas To Back Off Merger Lawsuit
  10. Robocall Legislation Likely to Move Forward for White House Approval
  11. NAB Seeks Reconsideration of FCC’s Clarification of Issue Advertising Public Disclosure Requirements – Rules Remain in Effect Though Some Clarification Provided
  12. AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality
  13. At launch, AT&T’s real 5G will only be as fast as its fake 5G
  14. The Washington Post And AT&T Team Up To Over-hype 5G
  15. Verizon’s new 5G coverage maps show just how sparse the network is
  16. DOD joins fight against 5G spectrum proposal, citing risks to GPS
  17. MediaTek and Intel team up to bring 5G networking to laptops and PCs
  18. University of London v Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 2075
  19. Telecoms: Court of Appeal ruling on operator’s right to survey  

PRIVACY

  1. Suspect can’t be compelled to reveal “64-character” password, court rules
  2. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
  3. California Makes $50 Million Annually Selling Your DMV Data
  4. EU’s High Court Issues Important Opinion on Website Cookie Consent
  5. EU Tells US: Ban Strong Encryption, And Privacy Shield Data Sharing Agreement Could Be At Risk
  6. Senate takes another stab at privacy law with proposed COPRA bill
  7. Law Enforcement Agencies Bumping Up Demands For Uber Customers’ Data
  8. A notorious Iranian hacking crew is targeting industrial control systems
  9. 2.2 Million GateHub and RuneScape Passwords Compromised
  10. Scammers try a new way to steal online shoppers’ payment-card data
  11. Louisiana was hit by Ryuk, triggering another c
  12. IIROC introduces mandatory cyber breach reporting
  13. FedEx securities class action following the NotPetya cyberattack – implications for D&O insurance
  14. Preparing for the California Consumer Privacy Act
  15. States Set to Regulate the Internet of Things (IoT)
  16. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Which supervisory authorities have released guidance on compliance with European cookie laws?
  17. GDPR Privacy FAQs: What are the major differences between the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on cookies and the CNIL’s guidance on cookies?
  18. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Can organizations use “terms and conditions” consent to gain consent to the deployment of cookies?
  19. IP and data protection for fintech businesses in United Kingdom
  20. Increased Ransomware Attacks Affecting All Industries
  21. Hacker’s paradise: Louisiana’s ransomware disaster far from over
  22. Senator Cantwell Releases Another Federal Privacy Law That Won’t Go Anywhere And Doesn’t Deal With Actual Issues
  23. Governments Are Feeding on Facebook Data: Report Shows Recent Rise in Official Requests for User Information

CREATIVITY

  1. Lawyer With Neo-Nazi Ties Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against SPLC For Calling Him A Neo-Nazi
  2. This Week In Free Speech Hypocrites: ‘Free Speech’ Supporter Sheila Gunn Reid Gleefully Sues Someone For Calling Her A Neo-Nazi
  3. Three Media Corporations Avoid Defamation Liability in Suit Brought by Joseph Arpaio
  4. Supreme Court allows climate scientist’s defamation case to proceed
  5. Australian Attorney General Wants To Make The Country’s Defamation Law Even Worse
  6. The Federal Circuit’s Determination That Administrative Patent Judges are Unconstitutionally Appointed
  7. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 33: “Canadian Patenting is Not Going to Drive Anything” – Aidan Hollis on New Research on Patents and Innovation (Michael Geist)(
  8. Banksy – showing “use” of his trademark or attempting to avoid evidential requirements of copyright law?
  9. Nirvana Smiling as Motion to Dismiss Its Copyright and Trademark Claims is Denied
  10. Beer Trademarks At Record High In UK As The Locking Up Of Language Continues To Boom
  11. Nirvana, LLC v. Marc Jacobs International, LLC
  12. Betty, Inc. v. PepsiCo, Inc.: District dismisses ad agency’s copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit accusing PepsiCo of copying concepts from rejected pitch for 2016 Super Bowl commercial.
  13. Court of Appeal summarises law of joint authorship – Kogan v Martin
  14. Transfer of “Know-How” includes Copyrights
  15. The End Of Ownership, Military Edition: Even The US Military Can’t Fix Its Own Equipment Without Right To Repair Laws

GAMES

  1. Blizzard and NetEase win Overwatch copyright lawsuit in China
  2. Patent Infringement Suit Over Apex Legends and Anthem
  3. The Pokemon Company is suing unknown parties over Sword and Shield leaks
  4. The Pokemon Company sues Pokemon Sword and Shield leakers: Unknown US individuals sought for posting early, unreleased images of new Pokemon on Discord, 4chan
  5. What happens if loot box regulation passes into UK law? | Opinion: Reed Smith’s Emily Daniels and Hunter Thomson offer tips on how to stay ahead of any future legal restrictions
  6. Man Spends $1.4 Million On Game Character, Which His Friend Then Accidentally Sold For Only $552
  7. EA: “Cloud gaming is going to bring in another billion players” – CTO Ken Moss on EA’s huge investment in AI, cloud streaming and tech
  8. EA/Origin Rewards Adopters Of Extra Security By Scaring Them
  9. Analyst: Men more likely than women to buy games based on reviews
  10. Brass Lion Entertainment and the critical business of diversity: Manveer Heir, Bryna Dabby Smith, and Rashad Redic on why their focus on diverse games is both a business decision and a human one
  11. Google responds to claims it misled consumers over Stadia launch performance
  12. Google addresses complaints of sub-4K image quality on Stadia
  13. Google Stadia’s Claims For Streaming In 4K Seem… No, Just No
  14. Stadia access codes have now reached Founder’s Edition buyers, days after launch
  15. Google Stadia: Critical Consensus: Critics say Google Stadia is the best game streaming option around, but still falls short in almost every way that matters
  16. Stadia Issues Continue And It’s The One Thing That Can’t Happen If We’re Going To Give Up Our Consoles
  17. Google responds after Stadia owners accuse it of breaking promises over game performance
  18. Google responds to criticisms of Stadia’s 4K support: After Red Dead Redemption 2 and Destiny 2 found to be upscaling lower resolutions, company says it expects developers to improve their games’ performance
  19. Google offers refunds to Stadia players who bought games added to Pro subscription: Subscribers who purchased Farming Simulator and Tomb Raider are entitled to compensation
  20. Google is offering refunds for players who bought new Stadia freebies
  21. Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed devs for first Stadia studio
  22. IP Insight – Blizzard v Bossland: Cheaters Never Prosper
  23. Report: Amazon plans to announce long-rumored game streaming service in 2020
  24. Amazon reportedly announcing game streaming service next year: Analyst suggests the retail giant will launch its service in time to compete with PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett
  25. PlayStation controller patent shows larger triggers, no light bar
  26. The hidden gems of Apple Arcade
  27. Why are developers betting on Apple Arcade?: The mobile subscription service frees developers from monetisation worries, but questions linger about its future
  28. AirConsole raises $3 million to expand library and reach
  29. AirConsole raises $3m in Series A round: Cloud-based casual gaming platform looks towards partnership development
  30. Toadman Interactive acquires publisher Sold Out
  31. Toadman Interactive buys Sold Out for £16 million: UK publisher joins Swedish firm’s growing network of games companies
  32. Top 1% of mobile publishers take 82% slice of downloads: Sensor Tower data showed 95% of IAP revenue going to just 1% of publishers in Q3 2019
  33. Check out Xbox’s latest guidelines for building more accessible games
  34. State of Decay 2, from Xbox Games Studios’ Undead Labs, headed to Steam
  35. Xbox currently has no plans for xCloud exclusives, though it has been discussed
  36. “No plans” for Project xCloud exclusives: Microsoft emphasises that it is “very early in the multi-year journey” for games streaming service
  37. Shenmue III: Critical Consensus – The 18 year wait for a new Shenmue is over, and critics are split over a game deliberately out of step with the times
  38. How Modern Warfare smooths over the horrors of war
  39. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold 4.75m digital units in its launch month – SuperData’s October report also shows Apex Legends having its best month since its launch quarter
  40. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is back at No.1 as Nintendo Switch conquers top ten – Shenmue III debuts at No.17 and Football Manager 2020 comes in at No.16
  41. Metacritic reveals the best 15 games of 2019 by review scores: Only One Nintendo Title Makes The Top Ten, According To Site’s Metascores
  42. Making a career in games more sustainable: Goodbye Kansas’ Henrik Jonsson on how different corners of the games industry can stop driving away talent and support individuals long-term
  43. Straight talk on funding — five top tips: Fundamentally Games’ Ella Romanos on forecasts, fees, the value of debt, and why failure can be useful
  44. Ubisoft partners with blockchain distribution platform Ultra: “[Ubisoft] believes that all blockchain use cases that bring value to players are important to support,” says blockchain initiative director
  45. Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp: Nintendo follows Mario Kart subscription with two tiers for Animal Crossing amounting to $10.98 per month
  46. Who Leaked ‘Sword And Shield’ Secrets? Pokémon Lawyers Want To Catch ’Em All
  47. Pokemon Sword and Shield have topped 6 million sales worldwide
  48. Pokémon Sword & Shield are the fastest-selling games in Switch’s history: Switch duo sells six million copies worldwide in first week of release
  49. The Witcher 3 continues to sell well as CD Projekt reports rising revenue
  50. The Witcher 3, Gwent drive revenue growth at CD Projekt: Polish company looks toward strong Q4 with Gwent iOS and The Witcher 3 for Switch
  51. Mobile developer and tool maker N3twork secures $40 million in funding
  52. NetEase buys minority stake in Bossa Studios: Deal worth an alleged $30m precedes Bossa’s push into China with the launch of Hogwash
  53. Coffee Stain invests in Kavalri: Goat Simulator publisher puts money into Equestrian the Game developer as part of initiative to address industry’s gender imbalance
  54. Candy Crush Soda Saga and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle hit $2b lifetime revenue – But Dragon Ball reached the milestone faster, according to Sensor Tower estimates
  55. ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ broke multiple sales records for EA: Turns out Star Wars fans love a classic single-player game.
  56. Jedi: Fallen Order sets records for EA Star Wars titles – Publisher says Respawn’s latest has best two-week digital sales in franchise history, best PC launch sales as well
  57. Roblox grosses $1 billion in mobile revenue
  58. Roblox surpasses $1b in lifetime revenue: Sensor Tower: Kid-friendly game creation platform has already grossed $435m so far in 2019
  59. Analyst: Roblox revenue on mobile alone surpasses $1 billion
  60. Rebellion has purchased Xenon and Speedball developer The Bitmap Brothers
  61. Rebellion acquires The Bitmap Brothers: Sniper Elite developer plans to develop new games based on classic IPs from The Bitmap Brothers
  62. Behaviour Interactive scrapping Deathgarden due to lack of players
  63. Behaviour Interactive shuts down Deathgarden: Bloodharvest development: This is the second title Behaviour has shuttered this year, after its mobile Westworld game
  64. Battleborn pulled from digital stores, going offline in 2021
  65. 2K begins slow sunset of Battleborn: Free-to-play hero shooter will shut down virtual currency in February, game will remain live through January 2021
  66. Swedish startup Coherence nets $2.5 million to build ‘democratic’ dev platform
  67. Valve issues string of Steam bans after publishers caught abusing Steamworks
  68. Steam removes hundreds of games after publishers abuse Steamworks: Russian publisher Dagestan Technology among those affected, although Valve has yet to offer further explanation
  69. Valve is clearing out the last of its Steam Controller inventory
  70. Valve discontinues Steam Controller: Ill-fated controller put out to pasture after four years
  71. The Steam Controller is dead, but its legacy lives on
  72. Intel granted patent for a new gamepad
  73. VR would be “a really dark space right now” without Facebook’s money: At Reboot Develop Red, Chet Faliszek reflected on progress in the VR industry since he departed Valve
  74. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Trailer Revealed, Release Date Set for March 2020
  75. Valve’s Gabe Newell: ‘We’re excited to return to Half-Life, VR has energized the studio’
  76. First Look: ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Screenshots Are Classic Valve, with a Decade More Detail
  77. Valve releasing Source 2 tools alongside Half-Life: Alyx next March
  78. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Will Run on All SteamVR Headsets, Free for Index Owners
  79. Valve Index is Sold Out in Some Regions Following ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Announcement
  80. Source 2 Tools Will Ship with ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ for VR Content from the Modding Community
  81. Valve shares platform and launch details for VR exclusive Half-Life: Alyx
  82. Half Life Alyx hits PC VR headsets in March 2020
  83. Xbox chief: “Nobody’s asking for VR” for Project Scarlett
  84. Phil Spencer: VR is isolating, isn’t a priority for Project Scarlett
  85. Hey Surgeon, Is That a HoloLens on Your Head?: Mixed reality displays are entering the operating room, first as surgical planning tools and soon as real-time guides to help doctors zap tumors.
  86. Beat Saber dev Beat Games acquired by Facebook
  87. Facebook acquires Beat Games: Beat Saber developer joins Oculus headset maker to continue work on music VR games
  88. Facebook just bought the developers behind virtual reality mega-hit ‘Beat Saber’ as part of a plan to ‘push VR to new heights’
  89. Russian dairy cows wear VR glasses for better milk production: Farmers try virtual reality headwear to see if it will help cows calm down and produce more milk.
  90. SuperData: Russia to surpass France as third-largest games market in Europe – Growth of mobile, esports, and free-to-play PC games expected to offset end of generation slowdown
  91. DisguisedToast, a top Twitch streamer, is moving to Facebook Gaming
  92. Facebook Makes First Play In Gaming Streamer Sign-Up Wars With ‘Disguised Toast’
  93. Hearthstone streamer Jeremy ‘DisguisedToast’ Wang signs Facebook exclusivity deal: Wang follows in the footsteps of several other top streamers departing Twitch in recent months
  94. Esports Org ‘Rogue’ Launches Latest Accelerator Program For Teen Fortnite Players
  95. NBA star Tony Parker to be honoured at Esports BAR Cannes: Former San Antonio Spurs player will be given Ambassador award for his activities in esports
  96. Why Session’s skateboarding design is more Skate than Tony Hawk
  97. Snapchat’s journey to be a “gaming destination”: Global partnerships lead John Imah offers insight into the early days of Snap Games, and how it fits the company’s broader gaming strategy
  98. The origins of Out Making Games, the UK’s first games industry LGBTQ+ network: We speak to the group’s founders about its initial success and plans to spread awareness and support in 2020 and beyond
  99. Mike Pondsmith: “If you want to get somebody to see your point of view, don’t preach” – The veteran designer on adapting to new technology and using games to tackle political and social themes
  100. Shovel Knight Showdown: Designing a roulette of gameplay
  101. Reworking the combat system in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
  102. NetEase has purchased a stake in Surgeon Simulator dev Bossa Studios
  103. Don’t Miss: Designing characters as UI in games like State of Decay
  104. Don’t Miss: A game dev postmortem of the original BioShock
  105. Don’t Miss: The legacy of Street Fighter II, in the words of the experts
  106. Video: Adopting continuous delivery to combat crunch on Sea of Thieves
  107. Video: How Riot creates new League of Legends champions
  108. Blog: Handling Unity scene hierarchy and performance
  109. Blog: What lessons can action games learn from Doom?
  110. Blog: A trailer analysis of Manifold Garden
  111. Blog: Combining film and comics to create the noir aesthetic of Interrogation1
  112. Blog: The community-driven development of Vecter
  113. Obituary: Stuido Studios co-founder Jose Zambrano

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; November 20, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 3, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. TikTok Head Says He’s “Quite Optimistic” About U.S. National Security Probe
  2. TikTok Hits 1.5 Billion Total Downloads, Driven By Explosive Growth In India
  3. TikTok Taps In Social Shopping Tools, Letting (Some) Users Add Buy Links To Bios And Videos
  4. Federal Court Short-Circuits Voltage Pictures’ Canadian File Sharing Class Action Copyright Lawsuit Strategy (Michael Geist)
  5. Supreme Court agrees to review disastrous ruling on API copyrights
  6. Big News: Supreme Court To Hear Google v. Oracle Case About API And Copyright
  7. Site blocking orders come to Canada: GoldTV.biz
  8. Federal Court issues landmark website-blocking injunction with significant implications for ISPs
  9. Fool’s Gold: Why a Federal Court Judge Was Wrong To Issue a Website Blocking Order Against GoldTV (Michael Geist)
  10. Bell Media Inc. Groupe TVA Inc. Rogers Media Inc. v. goldtv.biz goldtv.ca  (Federal Court, November 15, 2019)
  11. More Evidence That IP Law Protects Individual Emoji Depictions–Nirvana v. Marc Jacobs (Eric Goldman)
  12. Rules of the game? Digital political campaigning for the 2019 UK general election
  13. Judge Says The FBI Can’t Keep Refusing To Confirm Or Deny The Existence Of Social Media Monitoring Documents
  14. Google search results have more human help than you think, report finds: Google is sometimes hands-on under the hood, and investigators want to know more.
  15. How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results: The internet giant uses blacklists, algorithm tweaks and an army of contractors to shape what you see
  16. Google outlines plans for mainline Linux kernel support in Android
  17. The Ethical Dilemma at the Heart of Big Tech Companies
  18. Microsoft says yes to future encrypted DNS requests in Windows
  19. Twitter Releases New Global Political Advertising Policy
  20. Twitter’s ban on paid political advertisement comes into effect
  21. You might be able to schedule tweets from Twitter’s web app starting today: You used to have to use Tweetdeck or another service
  22. Evan Spiegel Says Snapchat Has A Team That Fact-Checks All Political Ads
  23. Snapchat Introduces Extended Play Commercials: The 6-second non-skip format still applies, but video can run up to 3 minutes
  24. Andrew Yang’s Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tech Policy
  25. Disney+ Has a Hacking Problem
  26. The version of Star Wars on Disney+ changes the canon once again: Han Solo vs. Greedo might look different than it did in 1977. And 2004. And 2011.
  27. Disney+ Promises To Fix Cropped Episodes Of ‘The Simpsons,’ But That’s Not Users’ Only Issue
  28. Hulu, Which Reportedly Has Nation’s Most-Subscribed Skinny Bundle, Institutes $10 Price Hike
  29. Online content and take down requirements- what are the boundaries?
  30. Narcos Defeats Yet Another Silly Copyright Lawsuit
  31. Court Sanctions Defendant for Failure to Preserve Text Messages in Copyright Infringement Suit Brought by Prince’s Estate
  32. Court Finds Communications Decency Act Protects Tumblr Against Revenge Porn Claim
  33. Unrelenting “ad blocker” plasters users with—you guessed it—ads
  34. Elsevier Gets Sci-Hub And LibGen Blocked In Austria, Thereby Promoting The Use Of VPNs And Tor In The Country
  35. Giant Publisher Macmillan Goes To War Against Libraries
  36. David Dobrik Nabs People’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Honors, People’s Choice Award
  37. David Dobrik Says Monthly YouTube Ad Earnings Went From $275,000 To $2,000 In Two Years
  38. Logan Paul Filing Appeal With Athletic Commission After KSI Boxing Defeat: “I Don’t Think I Lost”
  39. Studio71 UK Talent Firm ‘Moxie’ Signs Pro-Biker Ryan Taylor, Comedian Munya Chawawa, More
  40. Evangelical ‘Financial Whiz’ Who Apparently Hates Gossip, Sues YouTuber For Criticism
  41. James Charles To Host YouTube’s First Beauty Influencer Competition Series
  42. Manny MUA, FouseyTube, Andrea Russett Tapped For Season 2 Of ‘The Reality House’
  43. ICYMI: FTC Summarizes Existing Influencer Rules
  44. Influencing the Influencers: FTC Staff Release “Disclosures 101” Guidance for Online Endorsers
  45. Spreading The Influence: FTC Issues New Guidance for Influencers
  46. Senators ask if Facebook really lets users opt out of location tracking
  47. Facebook Claims Users Sign Up Because They Want To See Personalized Ads, Max Schrems Disagrees — And Usually Wins These GDPR Arguments
  48. Facebook Seeks Post-Spokeo Review of Biometric Privacy Class Action
  49. Facebook Levels Up Charity Livestreaming Tools, Opening Them To All Partner Creators
  50. Facebook quietly built “Popular Photos”, an in-app Instagram
  51. Facebook gets into the meme-making biz with experimental Whale app: The app was quietly released in Canada last week
  52. Pay Data Pitfalls: What We Can Learn From Facebook’s Discrimination Case
  53. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the single leading source of anti-vax ads on Facebook
  54. Is it Time to Prioritize Making Websites and Mobile Apps Accessible?
  55. We Need to Fix Online Advertising. All of It.: For the sake of democracy.
  56. Troll Lawyer Shows Up In Court To Explain His ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse, Gets His ‘Fitness To Practice’ Questioned By The Judge
  57. Should Doxxing Be Illegal?
  58. Google’s acquisition of Fitbit proves that data is king
  59. Google Maps translate feature will speak local place-names
  60. Google gives up on US carriers, will roll out its own RCS chat system
  61. Google Pixel 4 review—Overpriced, uncompetitive, and out of touch
  62. Google Earth gets content creation tools for geography-focused presentations
  63. InterDigital reveals new licensing deal with Google secured through mystery platform
  64. YouTube’s Top 5 Most-Viewed Music Videos Of 2019 All Belong To Latino Artists
  65. Japanese Hotel Charges Guests $1 If They Agree To Stream Their Stays For 24 Hours
  66. Following Positive Feedback, Instagram Expands Test Of Hidden ‘Like’ Counts Globally
  67. Condé Nast Reveals Latest IGTV Slate Amid Revamped Ad Strategy
  68. Instagram tests hiding Like counts globally
  69. Apple plans a Prime-like subscription bundle, but that has News+ publishers worried
  70. Apple bans vaping apps from the iOS App Store
  71. No, Apple isn’t opening a new manufacturing plant in Texas
  72. Insurer Must Face Email Spoofing Lawsuit
  73. Spotify confirms it’s testing real-time lyrics synced to music
  74. Spotify’s free music service will now stream on Alexa devices, plus Bose and Sonos smart speakers
  75. Spotify will now make a road trip playlist for you: It’s not as frighteningly accurate as the Daily Mix playlists, though
  76. Spotify turns its personalization technology to podcasts with launch of Your Daily Podcasts
  77. Amazon makes its music streaming service free with ads
  78. It’s the user’s fault if a Ring camera violates your privacy, Amazon says
  79. AMS Neve vs. Heritage Audio: What does the CJEU ruling mean for online infringement cases?
  80. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 32: Reflections from the Open Source Member of Parliament – A Conversation with Ex-MP David Graham (Michael Geist)
  81. Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem: Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well
  82. Shipping Firms Pilot Blockchain, New Crypto Payment Gateways and Products, Wyoming Announces Crypto Custody Rules
  83. Financial Institutions and D&O International Review – Facebook’s Libra: watershed moment for digital currencies?
  84. Patreon Now Counts 4 Million Patrons That Have Paid Creators $1 Billion To Date
  85. Every Tech Company Wants to Be a Bank – Someday, At Least: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Uber are all eyeing financial services as the next frontier. Getting there might take some work.
  86. IBM, Microsoft, the Linux Foundation and OIN join forces to counter open source threat
  87. Price Parity Clauses and Online Platforms: Is There a New Way Forward?
  88. Online intermediaries: Fresh guidance from the CJEU on the scope of the E-Commerce Directive
  89. “Where the Wi-Fi sucks” is where a new wireless protocol does its magic
  90. Should The Big Tech Companies Voluntarily Fund The Journalism Business?

A.I.

  1. Deepfakes are already breaking democracy. Just ask any woman: It doesn’t take a faked prime ministerial address to threaten the democratic process
  2. What should newsrooms do about deepfakes? These three things, for starters
  3. Microsoft sends a new kind of AI processor into the cloud
  4. Blog: Automating machine learning for mobile games
  5. Google’s FreddieMeter AI Experiment rates how well you sing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
  6. Algorithms were supposed to make Virginia judges fairer. What happened was far more complicated.
  7. Improving autonomous autos by having them guess which humans are selfish
  8. Protecting AI-Created Works – US seeking comments on copyright. What about Canada?
  9. Request for Comments on Intellectual Property Protection for Artificial Intelligence Innovation
  10. Will AI replace IP attorneys?
  11. AI & Privacy: PrActIcal AdvIce for OrgAnIzAtIons
  12. Capital One Asks the FCC To Make It Easier For You Communicate With its Very Polite Texting Robot: Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing
  13. Delaware Court Allows Stockholder To Inspect AI Company’s Books
  14. Write AI code once, run anywhere—it’s not Java, it’s Intel’s oneAPI 

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. The US gives Huawei its third 90-day support exemption from export ban
  2. Apathy Isn’t A Business Model: Major US Telcos Teeter Toward Bankruptcy
  3. Comcast trying to drive local sports network out of business, lawsuit says
  4. 46 Cities Sue The FCC For Trampling Their Rights
  5. FCC sued by dozens of cities after voting to kill local fees and rules
  6. Congress Says The FCC Is Trying To Run Out The Clock On Wireless Location Data Scandals
  7. FCC Announces Schedule for Transition to Annual Children’s Television Reports
  8. Ajit Pai Does a Good Thing As He Pushes For Public C Band Auction
  9. Who is leading the 5G patent race?
  10. PSA: DirectTV Pushes Back By Mentioning All The Refunds For Blackouts Its Issued… To Customers That Asked
  11. 11th Cir. Reverses Class Cert. in DIRECT TV; Says “Fairly Traceable” Analysis Has Some Bite Under Art. III
  12. 11th Circuit vacates class certification in TCPA action against satellite TV provider
  13. Clarification of the Electronic Communications Code
  14. Federal robocall legislation: “agreement in principle”
  15. Federal robocall legislation update
  16. As DirecTV tanks, AT&T says it will “re-bundle” TV with HBO Max
  17. AT&T to Pay $60 Million to Settle Dispute Over “Unlimited” Claims
  18. John Legere leaving T-Mobile after 7 fun years of bashing AT&T and Verizon
  19. Knowing What Happens Next, T-Mobile CEO Legere Heads For The Exit 

PRIVACY

  1. Federal Court Says ICE, CBP’s Suspicionless Searches Of Electronic Devices Is Unconstitutional
  2. Supreme Court’s Warrant Requirement For Cell Site Location Info Apparently Killed Another Domestic Surveillance Program
  3. Cops put GPS tracker on man’s car, charge him with theft for removing it
  4. Attorney General Calls FOIA Requests ‘Harassment’ During Long Rant About How Much It Sucks To Be Running The Nation
  5. Password data for ~2.2 million users of currency and gaming sites dumped online
  6. Nikki Haley lost her password, so she sent confidential info over unclassified system
  7. Impeachment hearing reveals major White House phone security fail
  8. Impeachment Hearings Highlight More Trump Phone OPSEC Failures
  9. FTC head asks Congress for real privacy laws he can enforce
  10. New EDPB guidelines on processing personal data through video devices
  11. Think of the children: FBI sought Interpol statement against end-to-end crypto
  12. Official Monero website is hacked to deliver currency-stealing malware
  13. How Did A Hacker Allegedly Access A Million Customers’ Personal Data? Let the FTC Count the Ways.
  14. Court Provides Guidance on What Constitutes “Telemarketing” to Residential Phone Numbers
  15. What the newly released Checkra1n jailbreak means for iDevice security
  16. Beware of PureLocker Ransomware
  17. Legal Aspects of Managing Data
  18. Privacy Policy Requirements
  19. Leveraging open source intelligence for cyber threat modeling
  20. Watch: Cyber threats in the Internet of Things
  21. Brexit and data protection: What to do next (when you don’t know what’s happening next)
  22. GDPR Enforcement Update: Can European Union Authorities Enforce Their Laws On U.S.-Based Companies?
  23. Interpol Confirms, Denies It’s Against Strong Encryption
  24. Google & Samsung fix Android spying flaw. Other makers may still be vulnerable

CREATIVITY

  1. Court To Racist Douchebags: It’s Not Defamatory For A Newspaper To Call You ‘Racist Douchebags’
  2. Journalists Publish List Of Convicted Cops The State’s Attorney General Said Was Illegal For Them To Have
  3. Taylor Swift says she’s been stopped from performing her own music on TV by Scooter Braun.
  4. Taylor Swift says she’s being blocked from singing her songs at American Music Awards
  5. Taylor Swift’s fight with Big Machine is getting support from Elizabeth Warren and AOC
  6. Leave Taylor Alone! Why Swift Action Is Needed Now
  7. Rap Song, Video Trigger Sharon Stone Lawsuit
  8. Bullock, DeGeneres Fight ‘Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry’
  9. The Ins and Outs of Canadian Copyright: Movies and the real and substantial connection test
  10. Universal Music Claims Copyright Over Newly Public Domain ‘Yes! We Have No Bananas’
  11. Music Collection Org: Revenues Are Booming… And That’s Proof Why We Need Even More Draconian Copyright Laws
  12. Auction of ‘kidnapped’ Banksy work reignites bitter feud
  13. Restrictive Covenants Do Not Inhibit Free Speech
  14. Needless Trademark Spat In Canada At Least Has Exactly As Polite Ending As You’d Expect
  15. Supreme Court to Hear Dot-Com Trademark Issue
  16. Trade Marks – where to sue when infringement occurs online
  17. Running an International Prize Promotion Without Breaking the Law
  18. How to defend yourself in case the artwork you bought at auction does not match its pre-sale description?

GAMES

  1. Game On: FaZe Clan’s $20 Million Lawsuit Against eSports Gamer Will Continue
  2. To find new games, more women value social circles, while men look to influencers – Newzoo: More women than men tend to value games that are easy to pick up and play quickly
  3. Bobby Kotick: Games are not a platform for my political views
  4. ‘Perpetual franchises’ are key to Activision Blizzard’s strategy, says CEO Kotick
  5. Google’s Stadia Game Streaming Service Arrives To A Collective ‘Meh’
  6. Google Stadia Launch Review: A Technical, Conceptual Disaster
  7. Google Stadia review: Gaming’s streaming future isn’t here yet
  8. Google Stadia launch review: Gaming’s “future” looks rough in the present
  9. Google Stadia review — It works, but it doesn’t matter
  10. Stadia delivers on low-latency, high quality cloud gaming – but is that enough?
  11. Unplayable at times, magical in others: Stadia’s dream is still in the clouds
  12. Google Stadia will be missing many features for Monday’s launch
  13. Google Stadia will launch without key features: Reddit AMA confirms that streaming service will not have Family Sharing, achievements, 4K for PC or Buddy Pass at launch
  14. Will Google’s Stadia Game Streaming Platform Be A Dud?
  15. Google Stadia nearly doubles launch lineup to 22 games on eve of debut
  16. Google expands today’s Stadia’s launch lineup to 22 games
  17. Google expands Stadia launch lineup to 22 titles right before launch
  18. Stadia nearly doubles line-up just days before launch: Ten titles pulled forward to November 19 as Google gears up to take streaming service live
  19. Stadia what? Xbox game streaming will become part of Game Pass in 2020
  20. Finalists named in Google’s annual Change the Game Design Challenge
  21. Xbox Game Pass subscriptions have doubled as its library continues to grow
  22. Project xCloud preview sees 50 more games, hits Windows 10 in 2020
  23. Xbox: “People are using xCloud to create couch co-op” – Microsoft’s xCloud leaders discuss what they’ve learned — and still need to learn — about game streaming
  24. From Project xCloud to New Rare Studio Game: Everything Revealed at Microsoft’s X019 Event
  25. Logitech has made an expansive accessory kit for the Xbox Adaptive Controller
  26. Logitech’s $100 Adaptive Gaming Kit finishes what Xbox’s XAC started: “People buy the XAC, then ask, ‘what should go with this? ’” Logitech made the answer.
  27. PlayStation has 100 million reasons to feel confident | Opinion: X019 saw Microsoft ready for the next generation, but the power remains with PlayStation
  28. Sony controller patent points to potential PS5 permutations
  29. Apple Arcade may be accelerating premium game decline, but not by much: Apple’s subscription service coincided with lower premium revenue during launch month, but sales have already been declining for years
  30. Games and datacenter chips drive Nvidia’s Q3 revenue to $3.01 billion
  31. Forge of Empires dev InnoGames surpasses $1 billion revenue
  32. InnoGames’ lifetime revenues pass €1bn: More than half of this came from Forge of Empires, company has grown revenues every year since 2007
  33. Report: BioWare planning revitalizing overhaul for Anthem
  34. Sources: BioWare Plans A Complete Overhaul For Anthem
  35. NPD: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the best-selling game of 2019 so far – The Switch remains the best-selling console of the year so far in the US
  36. Call of Duty and Mario Kart front a siege of PC and console IP on mobile: Sensor Tower looks back on a busy month in the mobile charts, and reflects on the growing influence of console and PC brands
  37. Call of Duty tops EMEAA chart for third straight week: Death Stranding debuts in second spot on the charts as Need for Speed Heat races into third place
  38. UK Charts: Pokémon Sword and Shield post huge opening weekend sales – But the new games can’t top Sun and Moon
  39. Report: Pokemon Sword and Shield have sold over 1.36 million retail copies in Japan
  40. Pokemon Sword and Shield sold 1.36m retail copies in three days in Japan: Sales reportedly mark the best opening week a Nintendo Switch title has had in Japan so far
  41. Nintendo is bringing paid subscriptions to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
  42. Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp – Nintendo follows Mario Kart subscription with two tiers for Animal Crossing amounting to $10.98 per month
  43. A Nintendo designer reviews your Super Mario Maker 2 levels
  44. Analyst: Borderlands 3, NBA 2K20 helped 2K dominate online chatter in Q3
  45. 2K Games apologises after social media feeds were hijacked on Friday: Publisher lost control of official Twitter account, along with pages for WWE, Borderlands, and Civilization
  46. Sustained mobile portfolio brings continued growth for NetEase in Q3: Chinese mobile giant sees year-over-year increases in net revenue and profit amid new releases, WoW Classic launch in China
  47. Southeast Asia is the world’s fastest-growing mobile games market – Newzoo: Mobile revenue expected to be up 17% in 2019 to $2.6 billion, nearly 70% of the region’s total games revenue
  48. Niko Partners: Southeast Asia’s $5 billion game market expected to grow to $8.3 billion in 2023
  49. Mobile party app Bunch nets $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, and others
  50. Bunch raises $3.85m toward development, expanded partnerships: Supercell, Tencent, and Riot Games among investors in mobile game chat and party app
  51. Net profit up 53.7% as Netmarble closes Q3
  52. New studio Dream Games raises $7.5 million to fuel mobile game development
  53. Dream Games raises $7.5m to develop casual puzzle titles: Investment in Turkish studio made by Makers Fund, Balderton Capital
  54. German government to continue $55 million game development fund 
  55. Mythical Games closes $19m funding round
  56. Mobile party app Bunch nets $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, and others
  57. Take-Two leads $20 million funding round into Spellbreak developer Proletariat
  58. Proletariat raises $20m for self-publishing, expansion: Spellbreak developer nets investment from Take-Two as it ramps up development
  59. Rune II publisher Ragnarok ‘shocked’ by closure of dev Human Head Studios
  60. Rune II publisher “shocked” by Human Head closure: Ragnarok Game confirmed it will continue to support Rune II and launch on other PC platforms in 2020
  61. Net game sales up 117% at THQ Nordic parent Embracer Group
  62. Wreckfest drives games revenue up 117% at Embracer Group: Company formerly known as THQ Nordic looks ahead to a Q3 with Darksiders and Shenmue 3
  63. How Koch Media is ensuring classic brand comebacks are worth the wait: From Shenmue III to TimeSplitters, CEO Klemens Kundratitz discusses the publisher’s upcoming line-up
  64. Goodbye Kansas grabs 45 percent stake in Norwegian studio Misc Games
  65. Goodbye Kansas Game Invest now owns 45% of Misc Games: Minority stake in ship simulation dev acquired in two separate deals
  66. Tencent grabs 10 percent stake in UK game company Sumo Group
  67. Revenue up at Paradox as it maintains focus on games with ‘long lifespans and strong IPs’
  68. Rebellion launches board games division: UK developer and publisher will kick off new business with tabletop version of Sniper Elite
  69. LG and Twitch Reveal Streaming Partnership with Pokimane
  70. FaZe Clan’s First Deaf, Female Gamer — 14-Year-Old ‘Ewok’ — Is Latest Twitch Departee To Sign With Mixer
  71. Faze Ewok is the latest streamer to jump ship from Twitch: She’s set to stream exclusively on Mixer
  72. FaZe Clan To Open First Storefront, Aims To Be Esports’ Supreme
  73. Esports Org 100 Thieves Adds Fortnite Pros ‘Falconer’, ‘Grandma’ To Growing Roster
  74. esports – gearing up to play in the pro leagues!
  75. Esports gamers experience same stressors as pro athletes, study finds
  76. The beauty of the indie spin-off: Binding of Isaac developer Edmund McMillen explains how and why he followed up the action game with a deckbuilding puzzle prequel
  77. Blog: Going indie in Syria
  78. Blog: Understanding Agile game development – Part 1
  79. Blog: Designing interesting decisions in games (and when not to)
  80. Blog: A guide to scrappy social media management
  81. The Game Theorists To Host Nine-Hour Stream For St. Jude With Markiplier, Colleen Ballinger, More
  82. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review – A Good Feeling About This
  83. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order review: the Star Wars game no one was expecting – Jedi Fallen Order focuses on exploration, with moments of explosive combat
  84. Jedi Fallen Order Shows That A Good Star Wars Game Doesn’t Have To Be Original: Part Zelda, part Tomb Raider, part Uncharted – all Star Wars
  85. Jedi: Fallen Order game review: More like, the Force goes back to sleep
  86. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order: Critical Consensus – Respawn Entertainment delivers on the experience of being a Jedi, critics say, but did the new film’s imminent release cause EA to push the game out early?
  87. Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky’s design lessons from The Outer Worlds
  88. Steam’s online couch co-op feature Remote Play Together leaves beta 
  89. Genre viability on Steam and other trends – An analysis using review count
  90. How players shop during a Steam sale: An in-depth analysis
  91. Valve is making a new VR Half-Life game
  92. Half-Life: Alyx: What we know about Valve’s upcoming full-length VR game
  93. Oculus Link launches in beta, opening Rift games up to Quest owners
  94. Oculus Link for PC is live: Everything we know about cables, GPU support [Updated]
  95. John Carmack steps down as Oculus CTO to explore artificial intelligence
  96. John Carmack moves to “consulting CTO” role at Oculus: Industry veteran will focus on AI, with Oculus now taking a “modest slice” of his time
  97. Oculus, Unity partner on free VR development course: 20+ hour course will teach VR build and launch best practices
  98. Snapchat Pledges $750,000 To Support AR Influencers In 2020
  99. Snapchat Will Invest $750,000 For AR Influencers To Create New AR Lenses
  100. Mixed reality game streaming platform LIV secures $2.6 million in funding
  101. New 3D display combines visuals, haptic feedback, and sound: A small sphere levitated on sound can be moved around fast enough to be a display.
  102. How Mario 64 inspired that horrible goose’s moveset
  103. What went into Apex Legends’ surprise launch?: Respawn’s Arturo Castro and Drew McCoy explain how they made and marketed a Titanfall game with none of the key elements of Titanfall
  104. Ars talks fighting games with Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari
  105. Don’t Miss: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
  106. Don’t Miss: Shenmue director Yu Suzuki shares his unique approach to game design
  107. Don’t Miss: The secrets of great voice acting
  108. Don’t Miss: How Neopets has influenced a generation of game developers
  109. Video: Inside Far Cry Primal’s character pipeline and customization tech
  110. Video: Top game composers share hard-won advice and lessons learned
  111. Video: Inside the art design of Firewatch
  112. Video: Game design insights from the GDC 2019 Failure Workshop
  113. Video: How Rockstar tackles environment design as spatial cinematography
  114. The never-ending journey of No Man’s Sky – Why I Love: EA Vancouver games researcher James Berg loses himself in Hello Games’ vast universe
  115. Designing the drunken dialogue puzzles in Night School Studio’s Afterparty 
  116. Charity streaming event Desert Bus for Hope surpasses $6 million in lifetime donations
  117. Bungie raises $1.6 million for charity through Game2give pledge drive
  118. U.S. Patent no. 10,252,167: Location graph adapted video games
  119. Smash Bros, Death Stranding among GOTY nominees for The Game Awards 2019
  120. EverQuest lead producer and designer Brad McQuaid has passed away
  121. Obituary: Everquest designer and MMORPG vet Brad McQuaid

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; November 13, 2019

By Jon Festinger on December 3, 2019

DIGITAL

  1. India Is Stifling Kashmir Journalists And Twitter Is Helping Get The Job Done
  2. Insider Threats: DOJ Says Twitter Employees Spied On User Accounts For Saudi Arabia
  3. Hong Kong Court Hands Down Protest-Targeting Order Banning Online Content That ‘Incites Violence’
  4. Did a UK Judge Just “Break the Internet”? Stay Tuned re the TuneIn Decision
  5. UK Premier League scores big in battle against illegal streaming devices
  6. Is it time to look at monetisation as a new exclusive right of the author? (Andres Guadamuz)
  7. Court Deems Screenshot Fair Game for Fair Use Defense in Copyright Action
  8. Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce (Eric Goldman)
  9. Biden Spreads False Info By Saying That Taking Away Section 230 Will Make Facebook Liable For Spreading False Info
  10. John Oliver Takes On SLAPP Suits And Anti-SLAPP Laws With A Grand Musical Number
  11. Massive Facebook document leak gives ammunition to investigators
  12. ECJ rules on Facebook “Like” button
  13. NY regulators investigating Apple Card after viral complaint of sexism: Customer service reportedly blamed “the algorithm” for discrepancies.
  14. Copyright Troll Lawyer Serves Up BS ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse For Missing Court; Now Facing Sanctions And Arrest
  15. Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft
  16. New Class Action Targets Discriminatory Ad Practices
  17. Members of violent white supremacist website exposed in massive data dump
  18. Netflix CEO defends censoring anti-government video in Saudi Arabia
  19. Netflix: We’re Not In The Truth To Power Business, We’re In The Entertainment Business
  20. Netflix Unveils Multi-Year Pact With Nickelodeon One Day After Disney+ Launch
  21. Too Many Streaming Exclusives Is Already Starting To Tick Users Off
  22. One Day In, Disney+ Already Has More Than 10 Million Subscribers
  23. High demand causes login problems on Disney+ launch day
  24. Defamation by Hyperlink
  25. Uber CEO: Time To Forgive The Saudis For Murdering That Journalist
  26. Uber CEO Defends Saudis After Jamal Khashoggi Murder: ‘Doesn’t Mean They Can Never Be Forgiven’ (Video)
  27. Softbank is getting exactly what it deserves, and it’s thanks to something way bigger than WeWork: Softbank took a $6.5 billion loss on investments in Uber and WeWork this quarter, and it deserves to lose more.
  28. Uber CEO says he was wrong to call slaying of Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi ‘a mistake’
  29. Uber CEO downplays Khashoggi murder, then walks back his comments
  30. Uber CEO downplays murder of Jamal Khashoggi as ‘mistake,’ then backtracks
  31. How terrible software design decisions led to Uber’s deadly 2018 crash
  32. Report Suggests Rampant Negligence In Uber Self Driving Car Fatality
  33. Amazon gains unfair edge by making sellers use its shipping, complaint says
  34. Amazon fails to unseat pro-tax city council members in Seattle
  35. Heineken challenged for targeting under 18s on Instagram
  36. Instagram is testing a new video editing tool called Reels that copies TikTok’s best features
  37. Twitter And Instagram Both Begin Experiments In Decreasing The More Socially Questionable Incentives Of Their Platforms
  38. TikTok Facing CFIUS Scrutiny
  39. US committee warned of China’s bulk data collection
  40. Google enlists outside help to clean up Android’s malware mess
  41. Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans
  42. Google: You can trust us with the medical data you didn’t know we already had – Google has 50M people’s medical records but won’t merge them with other Google data.
  43. Google fires staffer, suspends two others, amid rising workplace tensions
  44. Google will offer checking accounts, says it won’t sell the data
  45. YouTube Insists It Isn’t Changing “Right To Monetize” After Terms Of Service Update Sparks Backlash
  46. YouTube To Host Charity Tribute Concert In Nashville To Fete Its Johnny Cash Doc
  47. YouTube Overhauls Homepage With Bigger Thumbnails, New Queue Button, More
  48. Federal and State Authorities Increase Scrutiny and Enforcement of Children’s Privacy; Google, YouTube Agree to Pay a Record $170 Million Fine
  49. Operation Full Disclosure, Continued: FTC Releases Disclosure Guides for Influencers
  50. FTC Releases New User-Friendly Disclosure Guidelines for Influencers
  51. FTC offers guidance for social media influencer disclosures
  52. FTC Releases Guidance for Influencers
  53. FTC Guidance for Social Media Influencers and Endorsements Continues to Evolve
  54. FTC Releases New Disclosures Guidance for Influencer #Ads
  55. Avoiding both irresponsible and misleading influencer marketing
  56. ASA ruling on “celebrity” status – ThisMamaLife
  57. ASA ruling on weight loss post – Jemmy Lucy
  58. ASA ruling on audience composition – Tanya Burr
  59. Tis the Season: Act in Time, or Your Nonprofit Will Say Goodbye to Any DMCA Safe Harbor Protection from Copyright Infringement Liability
  60. Liza Koshy Named Co-Chair Of Michelle Obama-Founded Nonprofit ‘When We All Vote’
  61. With 25 Million Views On Season 1, Kian And JC Are Readying Another ‘Reality House’
  62. Logan Paul vs. KSI 2 Turned Into A Legit Boxing Event
  63. Ahead Of Logan Paul Rematch, KSI Drops “Down Like That” Rap Track With Rick Ross, Lil Baby
  64. Spotify taps Viacom for content marketing globally
  65. Spotify’s Magic Leap app will change playlists as you change rooms: With an interface that appears in your real-world environment
  66. On Podcasting
  67. How Ipsy And Warby Parker Are Harnessing The Engagement Power Of Micro Influencers For Social Video
  68. Deloitte Ranks BroadbandTV One of The Fastest Growing Companies in North America
  69. How Canadian media-tech giant BroadbandTV is giving content owners a boost
  70. Microsoft’s Project Silica offers robust thousand-year storage
  71. Why more than 168,000 Valentine’s day text messages arrived in November
  72. The perils of messaging apps
  73. How Airbnb’s fight to overturn a New Jersey law imploded
  74. Will the Music Industry Continue To Win Its Copyright Battle Against ISPs?
  75. CISAC Labels Canada a “Digital Champion” for Digital Music Royalty Growth (Michael Geist)
  76. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 31: Is Canadian Media in a Financial Crisis? – Marc Edge With a Different Take on What the Data Says
  77. Cloudflare Explains What It Takes To Slay A Patent Troll
  78. What is cyber insurance and how popular is it becoming?
  79. Safeguarding User Freedoms in Implementing Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive: Recommendations from European Academics
  80. Spotlight on Digital Competition Issues – A Digital Legacy

A.I.

  1.  Twitter wants your feedback on its proposed deepfakes policy
  2. Intellectual property in open innovation and co-innovation in the field of artificial intelligence
  3. This system from Garmin can land a private plane when your pilot can’t 
  4. When AI systems cause harm: the application of civil and criminal liability
  5. Task force on artificial intelligence hearing: AI and the evolution of cloud computing – key testimony on the risks, challenges and opportunities
  6. Uber still using Waymo-derived self-driving technology, expert says
  7. Meet MLPerf, a benchmark for measuring machine-learning performance 
  8. Robot delivery services: the latest in anthropomorphic marketing? 

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Comcast is trying to “dismantle” Civil Rights Act of 1866, MLK’s daughter says
  2. How the FCC solves consumer problems—well, it doesn’t, really
  3. Third Circuit Asked to Rehear Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes – Where Do We Go from Here?
  4. FCC To Consider All-Digital AM at its November Meeting – What Questions are Being Asked?
  5. AT&T switches customers to more expensive plans without asking them first
  6. A Decade Later, AT&T Pays A Pittance For Lying About Its Unlimited Data Plans
  7. States Are Being Conned By Lobbyists Into Backing Off The T-Mobile Merger Lawsuit
  8. The Color Magenta, Or How T-Mobile Thinks It Owns A General Color
  9. ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans With Very Obvious Limits Are Only Getting More Confusing 
  10. DirectTV Forgot To Stop Charging Customers For Channels That Were Blacked Out 
  11. Mozilla: ISPs Are Lying About Encrypted DNS, Should Have Privacy Practices Investigated
  12. Defense Department and FCC to Collaborate on 5G Testbeds
  13. 2020 Political Broadcasting Rules
  14. 2019 – 2020 Political Issue Advertising The Blessing and the Curse!
  15. How does Plume get all these ISP partnerships? Open source software 

PRIVACY

  1. US violated Constitution by searching phones for no good reason, judge rules
  2. FBI Asks Congress To Permanently Reauthorize The Phone Record Collection The NSA Voluntarily Shut Down
  3. Breach affecting 1 million was caught only after hacker maxed out target’s storage
  4. Ring Spends The Week Collecting Data On Trick-Or-Treating Kids And Being An Attack Vector For Home WiFi Networks
  5. Ring-a-ding: IoT doorbell exposed customer Wi-Fi passwords to eavesdroppers
  6. Search warrant overrides 1M users’ choice not to share DNA with cops
  7. One of the world’s most advanced hacking groups debuts new Titanium backdoor
  8. The Battle Over Encryption
  9. Microsoft Says It’s Cool With California’s New Privacy Law
  10. IoT Security: NIST Spotlight

CREATIVITY

  1. Copyright & Colourable Imitation – Inside Out or Upside Down?
  2. Religion and belief discrimination: dismissing employee who refused to sign a copyright agreement was not discriminatory
  3. Indirect religion and belief discrimination: Did an employee suffer indirect discrimination because of her beliefs about copyright?
  4. Artists’ moral rights in the frame
  5. Vallejo v. Narcos Productions LLC
  6. Everybody must get (Sharon) Stoned
  7. Federal Court Says Man Arrested For ‘Criminally Defaming’ Cops Can Continue Suing To Block The Law From Being Enforced
  8. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping Philadelphia
  9. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping – Volkswagen
  10. Sandra Bullock & Ellen DeGeneres Lawsuit Takes on “Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry”
  11. ASA ruling on alcohol and social responsibility – Macallan
  12. Public Backlash Leads To Backcountry.com Backing Down From Trademark Bullying
  13. Just Sue It: Nike Takes Skechers to Court For Copying Design Patents
  14. The best science and math moments in Sesame Street’s first 50 years
  15. A snapshot of the global patent landscape in eight charts

GAMES

  1. Epic is suing another tester for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2 content
  2. Another tester is being sued by Epic Games for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2: Keywords Studio employee was fired day after leak, now faces claim for over $85,000 in damages
  3. Activision and EA insiders have been profiting from selling stock during buybacks: CEOs Bobby Kotick and Andrew Wilson have made millions, but companies insist there is no improper practice
  4. China details new play time and spending restrictions for minors playing online games
  5. US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
  6. Blizzard Confirms It Won’t Rescind Blitzchung’s Suspension
  7. US congressman calls out Blizzard for allowing racist groups in WoW: “Racism isn’t a game,” rep. Lou Correa said after being made aware of far-right user guild, The Enclave
  8. Overwatch director thinks Blitzchung ban “should be reduced more or eliminated”: Jeff Kaplan says the process for a suspension or ban in OWL “takes about four to five days”
  9. Activision Blizzard sees slumping sales, sliding engagement: Revenues and monthly active users down across the board for Activision, King, and Blizzard divisions
  10. CoD and WoW push Activision Blizzard to better-than-expected Q3
  11. Blizzard plans to merge Overwatch 1 and 2 clients down the line
  12. Has Blizzard solved the sequel dilemma? | Opinion: Launching a sequel to a service-based game can easily lose player goodwill — but Overwatch 2 may have found a clever way to thread the needle
  13. Blizzard: Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will merge eventually – Jeff Kaplan says that all benefits of the paid sequel will be available to players of the first game
  14. Why the Hearthstone devs wanted to make an auto battler
  15. Player spending in Grand Theft Auto Online jumped 23% following casino update
  16. Ignore the critics — Tax Relief is vital to the UK games industry | Opinion: Criticising Rockstar, Rocksteady and Creative Assembly for benefiting from VGTR misses the point, says legal expert Tim Davies
  17. Take-Two raises guidance as microtransaction spending grows 32%
  18. Net revenue up 74% at Take-Two thanks to Borderlands 3, NBA, GTA, and others
  19. Live games propel Take-Two toward quiet holiday as GTA V reaches 115m units sold – CEO Strauss Zelnick: “There’s no rulebook around how you create transitions or new products in a world of live services”
  20. Key resellers claim legitimacy — the courts say otherwise | Opinion: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober probes the legal basis for key resellers, and finds those marketplaces on shaky ground
  21. Indie storefront Itch.io now boasts 200,000 games
  22. Valve appears to be working on a “Steam Cloud Gaming” service
  23. Steam game sales for ‘the other 50%’
  24. Steam search suggestions & premium positioning
  25. Death Stranding will launch simultaneously on Steam and the Epic Games Store
  26. UK Charts: Death Stranding is the second biggest PS4 launch of 2019 – Hideo Kojima’s game debuts at No.2 behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
  27. Roblox survey reveals disconnect between parents and teens over online bullying: Majority of parents believe their children will discuss online behaviour with them, but more than half of teens disagree
  28. U.S. VA evaluating how more accessible games help veterans heal
  29. NPD: U.S. games spending up 1% in Q3 as live-services offset consoles
  30. Revenue down at Nexon as Dungeon&Fighter works to win back players
  31. Nexon sales slip in Q3: MapleStory publisher shows modest revenue growth, but can’t offset double-digit percentage declines everywhere else
  32. PUBG Mobile generated $154 million during October 2019
  33. Call of Duty: Mobile racks up almost $60 million in launch month
  34. Call of Duty holds off Luigi’s Mansion 3 in the EMEAA chart: Activision’s shooter remained top of every chart despite competition from Nintendo’s latest exclusive
  35. Call of Duty Mobile beats Mario Kart Tour’s first month downloads: Sensor Tower estimates 148m downloads, behind only Pokémon Go in the all-time list
  36. Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A big adventure with a small Pokédex
  37. Just Dance 2020 is the last Ubisoft title on the Wii: Nintendo won’t say if it’s the last Wii game ever
  38. Nintendo: While nostalgia has appeal, remakes need to offer new game experiences
  39. Nintendo’s 3DS support will continue into 2020
  40. Don’t Miss: How Game Freak designs the iconic monsters of Pokemon
  41. Pokémon fans rally around Game Freak amid Sword and Shield unrest: The new Nintendo Switch games are due out this week
  42. Nintendo expects “remarkable results” from Mario Kart Tour: President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that “earnings are off to a good start” following strong launch
  43. Bandai Namco revealed as a development partner for Mario Kart Tour
  44. Playtonic dismisses Microsoft buyout rumours: The Yooka-Laylee studio also confirmed it’s not working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game
  45. Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller review: For $180, it better be this good
  46. Microsoft using Xbox Adaptive Controller to rehabilitate US veterans: Company is working with Veteran Affairs to roll out device to medical centres
  47. Minecraft nearing 300 million registered users in China
  48. Minecraft closes in on 300m registered accounts in China: Mojang’s game now has 112m monthly active users worldwide
  49. Net sales and profits up at Square Enix despite HD game struggles
  50. Square Enix profits up 32% in first half of fiscal year: Publisher’s success driven by MMOs and mobile games as HD games sales slip year-on-year
  51. Flavourworks raises $3.8 million to make interactive games with live-action video
  52. Erica dev Flavourworks nets $3.85 million to make more interactive games
  53. Flavourworks raises £3m to expand Touch Video platform: Series A round was led by Hiro Capital, making its first investment after launching earlier this year
  54. TabTale changes its name to Crazy Labs with focus on hyper-casual mobile games
  55. Stillfront reaps rewards of Kixeye acquisition in Q3: Revenue from Core games division rises almost 200% following $90m deal
  56. Indie publisher Kiss launches Intelligent Finance ISA: Company tells GamesIndustry.biz it will fund future games by promising investors 6.8% profit per year through tech bond
  57. Playtika considering IPO as Chinese acquisition plans collapse: Mobile games firm seeks listing in unspecified market, according to the company that failed to buy it
  58. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry asset library and toolset maker Quixel
  59. Epic acquires Megascans creator Quixel: All Megascans assets to become free for Unreal Engine users
  60. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry startup Quixel to make games more realistic
  61. Atlas Empires dev Cerberus acquires marketplace platform Tastebud
  62. Cerberus Interactive acquires Tastebud: Texas studio wants to incentivise real-world purchases in its location-based title Atlas Empires
  63. Sony opening Malaysian art studio to boost first-party development
  64. PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia: The new office will provide animation services to developers building exclusive PlayStation 5 games
  65. Sony’s Jim Ryan: We had to make changes to deliver our PlayStation 5 dream – PlayStation’s CEO on the globalisation of Sony Interactive Entertainment
  66. Sony has a PlayStation Now problem
  67. Abbey Games will terminate all employee contracts next month: Dutch indie “forced to scope down significantly” after Early Access version failed to live up to expectations
  68. Susan Wojcicki Talks Self Certification, Monetization, And Video Game Violence At YouTube’s First Gaming Creator Summit
  69. Starbreeze proposes plan to pay debts in full: Administrator signs off on reconstruction schedule that would see Payday outfit meet obligations to creditors within five years
  70. Homescapes has grossed $1b in lifetime revenue
  71. Tencent’s online game revenue surpasses $4 billion in Q3
  72. The Tencent zombie game trying to advance the battle royale formula – We speak to Next Studios about how Synced: Off-Planet recreates the tension of Fortnite or DayZ without copying the structure
  73. Report: Tencent wants to develop console games with help from Nintendo
  74. Tencent reportedly looking to use Nintendo IP as it expands internationally
  75. Tencent wants to make console games with Nintendo IP to boost US and Europe presence: It follows the two companies’ partnership to bring Switch to China
  76. PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile help drive Tencent gaming revenues: Chinese publisher cites increased contributions from overseas titles as driving growth in mobile gaming business, offsetting declines from PC
  77. Zynga: “Not every DAU is created equal”: President of publishing Bernard Kim talks about long-running live ops games and the decision to sunset or reinvest in them
  78. Gaming Industry Associations Agree on Universal Esports Principles
  79. Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag to be honoured at Esports Bar Cannes: 100 Thieves founder will be named Shaker of the Year at annual awards
  80. Hitmarker raises £200k for esports recruitment platform: Startup eclipsed £80k equity crowdfunding target in less than a week
  81. Twitch Studio, the company’s streaming software for new users, is now in open beta: The streaming site’s first software product is now available to everyone
  82. Q&A: Designing the foreboding Apple Arcade Soulslike Bleak Sword
  83. Apple reportedly making a VR/AR headset with a focus on gaming: Combined headset planned for 2021 or 2022, with lightweight AR glasses following in 2023
  84. Two years later, Apple’s AR/VR headset plans reportedly pushed back two years
  85. John Carmack wins Lifetime Achievement prize at VR Awards 2019: Oculus Quest crowned best hardware, while A Fisherman’s Tale is declared best game
  86. Virtual reality: Infringement in cyberspace
  87. Pistol Whip review: The year’s freshest VR game—and oh-so close to greatness
  88. Oculus and Unity team up for free course on VR game development
  89. Google brings DIY virtual reality to the masses by open-sourcing Cardboard SDK
  90. Only 12 games will be available on Google Stadia in time for Nov. 19 launch
  91. Stadia launch includes familiar lineup, one exclusive
  92. Google Stadia’s launch lineup includes 12 games: Only one title is an exclusive; three of them are Tomb Raider games
  93. Google unveils Stadia’s full 12-game launch day line-up: Plus 14 more titles for 2019.
  94. Stadia launch dev: Game makers are worried “Google is just going to cancel it”
  95. Kine creator: “The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might not exist” – DLC. At PAX West, developers Lucy Morris, Ken Hall, and Gwen Frey discuss diversity, community, and Stadia’s long-term potential
  96. Google plans to roll out Stadia features weekly after a barebones Nov. 19 launch
  97. Q&A: Respawn’s Mohammad Alavi works for greater diversity in game dev
  98. Diablo 4 impressions: Soaking in dark atmosphere and feel-good combat
  99. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands impressions: Leveling alts is about to get a lot more fun
  100. Activision Blizzard hits Q3 earnings targets with strong World of Warcraft Classic results
  101. Voodoo opens Canadian studio to expand beyond hypercasual market
  102. Voodoo opens Montreal studio as it expands beyond hypercasual games: New branch will be led by former Gameloft producer Mehdi El Moussali
  103. Human Head shuts down, staff to join Bethesda’s new studio: Co-founder Chris Rhinehart becomes creative director at Roundhouse Studios
  104. Prey dev Human Head Studios closes, is immediately revived by Bethesda
  105. What games are people talking about on Twitter?: Platform’s head of gaming content Rishi Chadha discusses what sparks conversation and how it differs from region to region
  106. Goldeneye 007’s lost remaster emerges again via massive, polished video leak
  107. Turning love into a cooperative game mechanic in The Game Bakers’ Haven
  108. Soul Reaver: Audacious, pulpy, intelligent, trashy, uncompromising
  109. “Expectations for full-price games is very high. You need a large budget to have a chance”: CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński on the struggles of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and how upcoming sequel Contracts will rectify this
  110. Video: A chat with Mac Walters on the unsolved mysteries of the Mass Effect universe
  111. Video: Insights from the GDC 2019 Narrative Innovation Showcase
  112. Video: How Techland built Dying Light’s remarkable parkour system
  113. Blog: A battle royale analysis from Q3
  114. Blog: Analysing the success of Free Fire, the other king of battle royale
  115. Blog: When theme and mechanics collide
  116. Blog: Making a successful indie game using the GemuKai framework
  117. Don’t Miss: The Binding of Isaac postmortem
  118. Don’t Miss: Devs recount their near-catastrophic run-ins with the sunk cost fallacy
  119. Don’t Miss: How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
  120. Don’t Miss: Designing decisions that matter in Orwell
  121. “I believe I am preserving digital art in a physical form”: Special Reserve Games CEO Jeff Smith talks about the business of selling physical copies of indie hits, from speculators to customers buying games “almost blindly”
  122. New Noclip vid offers devs an inside look at how the ESRB works
  123. Video: An indie game dev’s guide to contracting
  124. Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update: Does Your Gaming Stream Violate the Copyright Act?
  125. Galaga and Pole Position composer Nobuyuki Ohnogi has passed away

Jon

Read More | No Comments

  • Previous
  • 1
  • …
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • 24
  • Next

UBC Open Badges
This is an Open Badges UBC pilot project.

My Badges

[badgeos_achievements_list limit="10" show_filter="false" show_search="false" orderby="date" order="DESC" wpms="false"] For a description of the badges, go here.

Email Subscribe


 


RSS

Login with your CWL



Tweets by @jonfestinger

Top Commented

  • News of the Week; February 20, 2019
  • News of the Week; September 20, 2017
  • News of the Week; January 30, 2019
  • News of the Week; March 13, 2019
  • Slides Class #1
  • Featured

    Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.



    Creative Commons License

    Faculty of Arts
    1822 East Mall
    Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
    Tel 604 822 3151
    Fax 604 822 8108
    Website arts.ubc.ca
    Back to top
    The University of British Columbia
    • Emergency Procedures |
    • Terms of Use |
    • Copyright |
    • Accessibility