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Thursday 03 June 2010
By The Canadian Press, thecanadianpress.com, Updated: June 2, 2010 6:26 PM
New federal Copyright Act - do's and don'ts
MONTREAL - The Conservative government tabled a bill Wednesday aimed at updating Canada's Copyright Act.
It would affect a number of everyday activities related to digital material, including music, movies, and video games. If the bill passes through Parliament, here's what would be legal — and what would be illegal.
What's illegal:
—Breaking digital locks: Perhaps the most important element of the new bill is that it would make it illegal to break a digital lock. In other words, you could no longer download a program to get a DVD bought in Europe to work in Canada. Individuals also could not create, import or sell devices or software that breaks digital locks. The penalty for individuals would range from $100 to $5,000.
—Enabling copyright infringement: This provision would help target pirating sites, such as torrent trackers. When informed by a copyright owner that someone is illegally downloading material, an Internet service provider would now be required to forward a notice to their customer and keep a record of that correspondence for use in any future court case.
Other top stories on MSN Tech & Gadgets
'Quit Facebook Day' a complete failure?Asus, MSI showcase Apple iPad rivalsSmartphones now key to your hotel roomApple finally releases iPad in Canada
—Having more than one backup copy of a song or movie: You can back up a copy of a legally acquired song, but can't have more than one copy. It could therefore be illegal to copy a series of songs onto a USB key and share them with a friend. The possible penalty is $100 to $5,000.
—Downloading copyrighted music without paying: Nothing new in this regard; using Limewire to get the latest Lady Gaga song is, and will continue to be, illegal.
What's allowed:
—Recording TV shows or podcasts. Using such devices as PVRs falls under a grey area in the past law. Consumers would now officially be allowed to "time shift," in other words record material for later use.
—Copying a song from your hard drive to an MP3 player. The proposed law allows for what's called "format shifting" of legally acquired material. For example, you're allowed to transfer a legally downloaded song onto a portable listening device.
—Creating a mash-up: Creators are allowed to take existing copyrighted material, edit it, and create new material. Think of Youtube videos that slice together scenes from different movies. However, the proposed law sets out several important exceptions, including that mash-ups be done for non-commercial purposes and not harm the reputation of the original artist.
—Unlocking cellphones to change providers: Though the bill is extremely tough on breaking digital locks, the one notable exception is cellphones. Users would be able to unlock their cellphones as long they respect their existing contract.
[Submitted by Jerky]
New federal Copyright Act - do's and don'ts
MONTREAL - The Conservative government tabled a bill Wednesday aimed at updating Canada's Copyright Act.
It would affect a number of everyday activities related to digital material, including music, movies, and video games. If the bill passes through Parliament, here's what would be legal — and what would be illegal.
What's illegal:
—Breaking digital locks: Perhaps the most important element of the new bill is that it would make it illegal to break a digital lock. In other words, you could no longer download a program to get a DVD bought in Europe to work in Canada. Individuals also could not create, import or sell devices or software that breaks digital locks. The penalty for individuals would range from $100 to $5,000.
—Enabling copyright infringement: This provision would help target pirating sites, such as torrent trackers. When informed by a copyright owner that someone is illegally downloading material, an Internet service provider would now be required to forward a notice to their customer and keep a record of that correspondence for use in any future court case.
Other top stories on MSN Tech & Gadgets
'Quit Facebook Day' a complete failure?Asus, MSI showcase Apple iPad rivalsSmartphones now key to your hotel roomApple finally releases iPad in Canada
—Having more than one backup copy of a song or movie: You can back up a copy of a legally acquired song, but can't have more than one copy. It could therefore be illegal to copy a series of songs onto a USB key and share them with a friend. The possible penalty is $100 to $5,000.
—Downloading copyrighted music without paying: Nothing new in this regard; using Limewire to get the latest Lady Gaga song is, and will continue to be, illegal.
What's allowed:
—Recording TV shows or podcasts. Using such devices as PVRs falls under a grey area in the past law. Consumers would now officially be allowed to "time shift," in other words record material for later use.
—Copying a song from your hard drive to an MP3 player. The proposed law allows for what's called "format shifting" of legally acquired material. For example, you're allowed to transfer a legally downloaded song onto a portable listening device.
—Creating a mash-up: Creators are allowed to take existing copyrighted material, edit it, and create new material. Think of Youtube videos that slice together scenes from different movies. However, the proposed law sets out several important exceptions, including that mash-ups be done for non-commercial purposes and not harm the reputation of the original artist.
—Unlocking cellphones to change providers: Though the bill is extremely tough on breaking digital locks, the one notable exception is cellphones. Users would be able to unlock their cellphones as long they respect their existing contract.
[Submitted by Jerky]
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Sunday 30 May 2010
Danke, my hard-hatted friend!
May 24, 2010 - TF2 Team
After slaving away for over a year, the fine folks at Polycount have unveiled their new community site for video game artwork. Given that a year is roughly the time it takes for us to post a blog update, you can imagine our immediate and deeply-held suspicion that they probably used magic. Possibly black magic. I won't bore you with the details, but long story short, we immediately raced to their office, armed with holy water and fire, to confront them. Several police officers informed us that we were mistaken, and then made us apologize to the wizards, and then made us stop calling them wizards.
At any rate, to help celebrate, we've teamed up with them to run The Polycount Pack contest. Whether you're a modeler who's submitted work to the Contribute page already, or a beginner looking for a great community to give you useful feedback, this contest is the thing you're looking for.
And guess what: If you're not a modeler, you're even luckier. Why? You don't have to do anything at all, and you'll still be getting free content from [strike]suckers[/strike] your fellow players.
Remember, if you see someone carrying one of these "self-made" items, make sure you thank them for their work! (But then, of course, shoot them.)
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
May 24, 2010 - TF2 Team
After slaving away for over a year, the fine folks at Polycount have unveiled their new community site for video game artwork. Given that a year is roughly the time it takes for us to post a blog update, you can imagine our immediate and deeply-held suspicion that they probably used magic. Possibly black magic. I won't bore you with the details, but long story short, we immediately raced to their office, armed with holy water and fire, to confront them. Several police officers informed us that we were mistaken, and then made us apologize to the wizards, and then made us stop calling them wizards.
At any rate, to help celebrate, we've teamed up with them to run The Polycount Pack contest. Whether you're a modeler who's submitted work to the Contribute page already, or a beginner looking for a great community to give you useful feedback, this contest is the thing you're looking for.
And guess what: If you're not a modeler, you're even luckier. Why? You don't have to do anything at all, and you'll still be getting free content from [strike]suckers[/strike] your fellow players.
Remember, if you see someone carrying one of these "self-made" items, make sure you thank them for their work! (But then, of course, shoot them.)
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
All I can tell you about this next procedure is that it will be excruciating.
May 18, 2010 - Dave Riller
We're going to ship an update with another small set of Pyro changes this week. Like our previous update, our goal is to increase the degree to which skill can make a difference between two Pyro players. We received a bunch of useful feedback after the last update, and we think we've managed to address most of it, without removing the skill-based additions. As always, play with it for a bit, and then let us know what you think.
While we've been mucking about with game balance, Mister Royzo has unveiled his latest round of creations over on his Fancy vs Nasty Update page. Go take a look, and try not to melt his web server down.
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
May 18, 2010 - Dave Riller
We're going to ship an update with another small set of Pyro changes this week. Like our previous update, our goal is to increase the degree to which skill can make a difference between two Pyro players. We received a bunch of useful feedback after the last update, and we think we've managed to address most of it, without removing the skill-based additions. As always, play with it for a bit, and then let us know what you think.
While we've been mucking about with game balance, Mister Royzo has unveiled his latest round of creations over on his Fancy vs Nasty Update page. Go take a look, and try not to melt his web server down.
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
Gotta move that gear up!
May 13, 2010 - TF2 Team
In between obsessing over hats, we've been trying to keep up with all the neat things the community is doing.
The fantastic folks over at TF2maps.net have unveiled the results of their latest community mapping challenge: The Competitive CTF Contest. If you're a fan of CTF, or a competitive team looking for some new maps to try out, it's the best day of your entire life. All down-hill from here, sorry.[Ed: Contest has long since ended, my bad.]
The Third European edition of Pros vs Pubbers event is coming up. Like previous events, their goal is to bring competitive & public players closer together. If that sounds like fun, head over and get involved. They also sent us this neat poster to show us that not only are they better at TF2 than us, they're also better artists.[Ed: Also ended. Also my bad.]
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
May 13, 2010 - TF2 Team
In between obsessing over hats, we've been trying to keep up with all the neat things the community is doing.
The fantastic folks over at TF2maps.net have unveiled the results of their latest community mapping challenge: The Competitive CTF Contest. If you're a fan of CTF, or a competitive team looking for some new maps to try out, it's the best day of your entire life. All down-hill from here, sorry.[Ed: Contest has long since ended, my bad.]
The Third European edition of Pros vs Pubbers event is coming up. Like previous events, their goal is to bring competitive & public players closer together. If that sounds like fun, head over and get involved. They also sent us this neat poster to show us that not only are they better at TF2 than us, they're also better artists.[Ed: Also ended. Also my bad.]
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
A Week in the Life of the TF2 Team
May 13, 2010 - Robin Walker
It's been a busy week for the Team Fortress team. That's right: the police are here again. We're on a first name basis with them, the fire department and the nasal extraction emergency response team at Overlake Hospital by now, so it was like meeting with old friends.
Anyway, seems like a Team Fortress staffer went missing this week, so they need to poke around the office a bit and see if they can find out where he went. While I was poking around the missing staffer's PC looking for evidence to erase, I stumbled on a game production diary it looked like he'd been writing, and figured why not throw it up on the TF blog? Enjoy!
MONDAY, APRIL 5th, 2010
My first day at Valve working with the Team Fortress 2 team. Pretty excited! TF2 is my all-time favorite game, and I just know I'm due for big things here.
Robin Walker showed me around the office and explained that Valve has a "flat management" style, meaning that nobody's in charge of anybody.
"And I'm the MOST not in charge of everybody," he said, cocking a thumb at himself. "I fired everybody at the company once. I could fire you and not even break a sweat."
I laughed at this, then looked around and saw everybody else not laughing. I trailed off.
"He really did fire everybody," Corey Peters said.
"Then he bought a horse," Dario Casali added.
Robin laughed warmly at these memories as he fed sugar cubes to his horse. "This is your desk," he added. He didn't point anywhere or look at anything besides the horse.
"The horse is my desk," I said for clarification. Robin looked at me like I was some kind of idiot, then pointed to a tiny desk under the horse.
All in a all, a big first day. Pretty sure I'll fit in fine around here. Robin's already given me a nickname: Big Face. Wasn't sure what that meant. Robin explained that I had a big face, in his estimation.
Also, note to self: buy a hat. I seem to be the only person not wearing one.
TUESDAY, APRIL 6th, 2010
Noticed that everyone's wearing different hats than they were yesterday. Robin asked where my hat was. I said I didn't have one yet. Got really quiet in the office all of a sudden. I added that I'd probably buy one this weekend. Could be wrong, but I swear I heard someone whisper "terrorist."
Big team meeting today. I came prepared. I've been programming a playable demo version of TF2 with an entirely new tenth class. I had to teach myself programming, modeling, level design, character design and about twenty other skills, but I think the results speak for themselves. Everybody took a crack at playing it.
"This is pretty balanced gameplay," admitted Robin.
"I like how we haven't found any hats yet," said Brandon Reinhart. "It sets up the suspense better. I'm all, 'When am I going to find a hat already?'" Everyone laughed.
"I hope it's soon, I can't wait much longer," said Corey Peters. "Look how stupid this tenth class's bare head looks!" More big laughs.
"Actually, there aren't any hats in this demo," I said, chuckling. Deathly silence. Then everybody got up at once and stopped playing. Eric Smith got really mad and threw his keyboard through a wall, then stormed out and went home. Robin asked to speak to me privately.
"I don't think you're applying yourself enough," he said.
"But I invented an entirely new class from scratch," I said, feeling my face get hot.
"Yeah, that's really, really..." he trailed off, so bored with the sentence he didn't bother to finish it. "Look, maybe you should read this. You know--help you get into the 'Team Fortress' mindset."
He slid over a well-worn game design manual. I leafed through it. It wasn't a game design manual, it was a coffee table-sized book of women wearing hats.
Mistaking my confusion for interest, Robin excitedly pulled his chair over to me, and looked over my shoulder. "Would you look at that hat," he whispered, pointing to a lady in a wide-brimmed hat. "Gorgeous."
"Are you crying?" I asked, because that's sure what it looked like he was doing.
"What? No. I just had something in my eye."
"Okay," I said. It was pretty easy to see what he had in his eye, though. Tears.
Robin suddenly jumped up and took everybody hat shopping. I tried working in the empty office for a while, then decided to just go home.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7th, 2010[/i]
All work suspended so the TF2 team could spend the morning modeling their hats. Brandon Reinhart won Best in Show for his calfskin sombrero. (I thought it looked ridiculous.)
After lunch it was back to work, and Robin outlined the next six months of objectives for the team. I noticed the word "hat" coming up a lot. Like in all the objectives, for instance. And a couple of times, it looked like he got distracted and just wrote "hat".
"Question in the back?" said Robin, pointing to my outstretched arm.
"Yeah," I said. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Twenty-odd faces turned to me. "You could be designing anything you want! You could be coming up with new levels and game modes and weapons and--and--and all you do is sit around making hats!"
A hushed silence. I started to think I might have gotten through to some of them. Brandon Reinhart, especially, looked at me with a newfound sense of wonder.
"You know, guys," said Brandon, "the new guy would make a great hat if we hollowed him out."
Nods of agreement. Then, as one, they leapt up and advanced on me.
I woke up in a janitorial closet. I guess this is some hazing ritual on the new guy. I want to believe that, anyway. But now I'm starting to wonder if Brandon's sombrero was calfskin after all.
[/i]
Hmm. Actually, now I remember this guy. Brandon, you might want to hide that beret for a few days until the police leave.
[Ed: I'm like half a month late with these, sue me.]
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
May 13, 2010 - Robin Walker
It's been a busy week for the Team Fortress team. That's right: the police are here again. We're on a first name basis with them, the fire department and the nasal extraction emergency response team at Overlake Hospital by now, so it was like meeting with old friends.
Anyway, seems like a Team Fortress staffer went missing this week, so they need to poke around the office a bit and see if they can find out where he went. While I was poking around the missing staffer's PC looking for evidence to erase, I stumbled on a game production diary it looked like he'd been writing, and figured why not throw it up on the TF blog? Enjoy!
MONDAY, APRIL 5th, 2010
My first day at Valve working with the Team Fortress 2 team. Pretty excited! TF2 is my all-time favorite game, and I just know I'm due for big things here.
Robin Walker showed me around the office and explained that Valve has a "flat management" style, meaning that nobody's in charge of anybody.
"And I'm the MOST not in charge of everybody," he said, cocking a thumb at himself. "I fired everybody at the company once. I could fire you and not even break a sweat."
I laughed at this, then looked around and saw everybody else not laughing. I trailed off.
"He really did fire everybody," Corey Peters said.
"Then he bought a horse," Dario Casali added.
Robin laughed warmly at these memories as he fed sugar cubes to his horse. "This is your desk," he added. He didn't point anywhere or look at anything besides the horse.
"The horse is my desk," I said for clarification. Robin looked at me like I was some kind of idiot, then pointed to a tiny desk under the horse.
All in a all, a big first day. Pretty sure I'll fit in fine around here. Robin's already given me a nickname: Big Face. Wasn't sure what that meant. Robin explained that I had a big face, in his estimation.
Also, note to self: buy a hat. I seem to be the only person not wearing one.
TUESDAY, APRIL 6th, 2010
Noticed that everyone's wearing different hats than they were yesterday. Robin asked where my hat was. I said I didn't have one yet. Got really quiet in the office all of a sudden. I added that I'd probably buy one this weekend. Could be wrong, but I swear I heard someone whisper "terrorist."
Big team meeting today. I came prepared. I've been programming a playable demo version of TF2 with an entirely new tenth class. I had to teach myself programming, modeling, level design, character design and about twenty other skills, but I think the results speak for themselves. Everybody took a crack at playing it.
"This is pretty balanced gameplay," admitted Robin.
"I like how we haven't found any hats yet," said Brandon Reinhart. "It sets up the suspense better. I'm all, 'When am I going to find a hat already?'" Everyone laughed.
"I hope it's soon, I can't wait much longer," said Corey Peters. "Look how stupid this tenth class's bare head looks!" More big laughs.
"Actually, there aren't any hats in this demo," I said, chuckling. Deathly silence. Then everybody got up at once and stopped playing. Eric Smith got really mad and threw his keyboard through a wall, then stormed out and went home. Robin asked to speak to me privately.
"I don't think you're applying yourself enough," he said.
"But I invented an entirely new class from scratch," I said, feeling my face get hot.
"Yeah, that's really, really..." he trailed off, so bored with the sentence he didn't bother to finish it. "Look, maybe you should read this. You know--help you get into the 'Team Fortress' mindset."
He slid over a well-worn game design manual. I leafed through it. It wasn't a game design manual, it was a coffee table-sized book of women wearing hats.
Mistaking my confusion for interest, Robin excitedly pulled his chair over to me, and looked over my shoulder. "Would you look at that hat," he whispered, pointing to a lady in a wide-brimmed hat. "Gorgeous."
"Are you crying?" I asked, because that's sure what it looked like he was doing.
"What? No. I just had something in my eye."
"Okay," I said. It was pretty easy to see what he had in his eye, though. Tears.
Robin suddenly jumped up and took everybody hat shopping. I tried working in the empty office for a while, then decided to just go home.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7th, 2010[/i]
All work suspended so the TF2 team could spend the morning modeling their hats. Brandon Reinhart won Best in Show for his calfskin sombrero. (I thought it looked ridiculous.)
After lunch it was back to work, and Robin outlined the next six months of objectives for the team. I noticed the word "hat" coming up a lot. Like in all the objectives, for instance. And a couple of times, it looked like he got distracted and just wrote "hat".
"Question in the back?" said Robin, pointing to my outstretched arm.
"Yeah," I said. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Twenty-odd faces turned to me. "You could be designing anything you want! You could be coming up with new levels and game modes and weapons and--and--and all you do is sit around making hats!"
A hushed silence. I started to think I might have gotten through to some of them. Brandon Reinhart, especially, looked at me with a newfound sense of wonder.
"You know, guys," said Brandon, "the new guy would make a great hat if we hollowed him out."
Nods of agreement. Then, as one, they leapt up and advanced on me.
I woke up in a janitorial closet. I guess this is some hazing ritual on the new guy. I want to believe that, anyway. But now I'm starting to wonder if Brandon's sombrero was calfskin after all.
[/i]
Hmm. Actually, now I remember this guy. Brandon, you might want to hide that beret for a few days until the police leave.
[Ed: I'm like half a month late with these, sue me.]
[Submitted by Lijitsu]
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