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10 Views
22:00:00 11/17/11
Act Today To Save The Internet - Oppose SOPA
[LESS INFO] 10 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:00 11/17/11
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the "Stop Internet Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). In typical Republican fashion, it was not broadcast on CSPAN and many interested parties were excluded from the proceedings. In fact, the only technology company allowed to testify was Google , who opposes the proposed law along with a coalition of companies which includes Facebook, eBay and Zynga , along with others.
If ever there were a law designed to fatten the pockets of intellectual property attorneys, it is this proposed law. It has the potential to change the Internet, and not for the better. Written by and for large media companies like Comcast, it places full responsibility for intellectual property piracy on the shoulders of site owners rather than users.
As currently written, any website that quoted another site's content, or linked to a site that quoted another site's content could be declared a rogue site by the content owner, whether or not that content is subject to fair use rules. Once declared "rogue", companies like Paypal and Visa could then cut off payments immediately without the benefit of a hearing or due process of law. Fair use? Free speech? Forget about it. Here is the official summary from the House Judiciary Committee site. >
This bill focuses not on technology but on preventing those who engage in criminal behavior from reaching directly into the U.S. market to harm American consumers.
We cannot continue a system that allows criminals to disregard our laws and import counterfeit and pirated goods across our physical borders.
Nor can we fail to take effective and meaningful action when criminals misuse the Internet.
The problem of rogue websites is real, immediate and wide-spread. It harms all sectors of the economy.
And its scope is staggering. One recent survey found that nearly one quarter of global Internet traffic infringes on copyrights.
A second study found that 43 sites classified as ‘digital piracy’ generated 53 billion visits per year and that 26 sites selling just counterfeit prescription drugs generated 51 million hits annually.
Since the United States produces the most intellectual property, our country has the most to lose if we fail to address the problem of these rogue websites.
Responsible companies and public officials have taken note of the corrosive and damaging effects of rogue sites.
That last line is dripping with finger-pointing, as the announcement goes on to extol the virtuous Mastercard company while excoriating Google. Mastercard, of course, supports this wholeheartedly, while Google opposes it, along with Facebook and other websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that s ites like Vimeo, Flickr and Etsy would likely die as a result of this legislation.
Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN reporter and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, had this to say : >
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar.
Abuses under existing American law serve as troubling predictors for the kinds of abuse by private actors that the House bill would make possible. Take, for example, the cease-and-desist letters that Diebold, a maker of voting machines, sent in 2003, demanding that Internet service providers shut down Web sites that had published internal company e-mails about problems with the company’s voting machines. The letter cited copyright violations, and most of the service providers took down the content without question, despite the strong case to be made that the material was speech protected under the First Amendment.
Indeed. MacKinnon goes on to point out that this bill goes far beyond intellectual property protection. In particular, the House bill is set up to hold companies liable for users' actions. That would kill YouTube forever, but more importantly, it sets up an environment where power is freely wielded by those with the resources to shut down those without resources. Imagine Fox News declaring this site "rogue", for example. Search engines would block all traffic and results, and our right to speak freely (and criticize them freely) would be infringed upon. The same is true of Media Matters. Those with the lawyers and the money would win by default.
The Occupy movement? Dead. They'd shut down the Facebook and Twitter accounts along with the live stream without cause. Simply call it "rogue" and be done. That's how totalitarian societies operate and it's anathema to anyone who understands the Internet.
BusinessWeek : >
As Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures says in a blog post, what these bills do is expose a fundamental disconnect between proponents of an open Internet and companies and legislators who would rather create their own kind of Internet: a version of the Web that’s less chaotic, more respectful, and most importantly, a lot easier to control. As Burnham notes, that kind of Internet would make things a lot easier for content producers and entertainment conglomerates, but it would remove or imperil a lot of the things that make the Internet so valuable:
“The Internet is not just a series of pipes. Its core architecture embeds an assumption about human nature.
> The Internet is designed to empower individuals, not control them. It assumes that the if individuals are empowered, they will do the right thing the vast majority of the time.
”
Over the past few days, I've seen reports that this bill is dead and other reports that it's alive and kicking. There are many who are raising their voices against it, including Oregon Senator Wyden, who has placed a hold on it. Unfortunately, it's a bipartisan bill. It shouldn't be. No Democrat should support this kind of suppression online. None. No conservative with true respect for the Constitution should support this kind of suppression, and indeed, one of those who oppose it is Ron Paul, to his credit.
As much as it pains me to admit this, I find myself on the same side as Darrell Issa. Via The Hill : >
Issa said the rush to hold the hearing was based on the flawed assumption that the bipartisan bill would quickly become law and said the sponsors didn’t want to hear from opponents, but must now accept that there is real opposition to their bill.
“What they’re realizing is there are so many unintended consequences that they can’t just use Google as a piñata and bash on it here,” he said, citing the broad coalition of opposition encompassing the tech industry, the left and the right.
“I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor,” Issa added when asked about the odds of the bill moving forward after passing the Judiciary Committee. “I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.”
The bottom line here? Many of these lawmakers don't know enough about the Internet to understand the issues at stake. Further, as companies like Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Hulu and others develop ways to stream their content at affordable prices to users, piracy will likely decline. Dropping a nuclear bomb on the Internet is unnecessary to prevent piracy. This is really about control. Comcast wants control of what users can see and stream on their pipes, something I predicted back when they first proposed merging with NBC-Universal.
This attempt by mega-corporations to take control of the Internet needs to be stopped cold. There has been a huge online response expressing opposition, but it needs to continue. Please sign the EFF petition here , or call your representatives to register your opposition to a law which is unnecessarily draconian and serves only the interests of corporations who do not serve yours.
22 Views
22:00:00 11/17/11
Act Today To Save The Internet - Oppose SOPA
[LESS INFO] 22 VIEWS | ADDED 22:00:00 11/17/11
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the "Stop Internet Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). In typical Republican fashion, it was not broadcast on CSPAN and many interested parties were excluded from the proceedings. In fact, the only technology company allowed to testify was Google , who opposes the proposed law along with a coalition of companies which includes Facebook, eBay and Zynga , along with others.
If ever there were a law designed to fatten the pockets of intellectual property attorneys, it is this proposed law. It has the potential to change the Internet, and not for the better. Written by and for large media companies like Comcast, it places full responsibility for intellectual property piracy on the shoulders of site owners rather than users.
As currently written, any website that quoted another site's content, or linked to a site that quoted another site's content could be declared a rogue site by the content owner, whether or not that content is subject to fair use rules. Once declared "rogue", companies like Paypal and Visa could then cut off payments immediately without the benefit of a hearing or due process of law. Fair use? Free speech? Forget about it. Here is the official summary from the House Judiciary Committee site. >
This bill focuses not on technology but on preventing those who engage in criminal behavior from reaching directly into the U.S. market to harm American consumers.
We cannot continue a system that allows criminals to disregard our laws and import counterfeit and pirated goods across our physical borders.
Nor can we fail to take effective and meaningful action when criminals misuse the Internet.
The problem of rogue websites is real, immediate and wide-spread. It harms all sectors of the economy.
And its scope is staggering. One recent survey found that nearly one quarter of global Internet traffic infringes on copyrights.
A second study found that 43 sites classified as ‘digital piracy’ generated 53 billion visits per year and that 26 sites selling just counterfeit prescription drugs generated 51 million hits annually.
Since the United States produces the most intellectual property, our country has the most to lose if we fail to address the problem of these rogue websites.
Responsible companies and public officials have taken note of the corrosive and damaging effects of rogue sites.
That last line is dripping with finger-pointing, as the announcement goes on to extol the virtuous Mastercard company while excoriating Google. Mastercard, of course, supports this wholeheartedly, while Google opposes it, along with Facebook and other websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that s ites like Vimeo, Flickr and Etsy would likely die as a result of this legislation.
Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN reporter and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, had this to say : >
The bills would empower the attorney general to create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks, all without a court hearing or a trial. The House version goes further, allowing private companies to sue service providers for even briefly and unknowingly hosting content that infringes on copyright — a sharp change from current law, which protects the service providers from civil liability if they remove the problematic content immediately upon notification. The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar.
Abuses under existing American law serve as troubling predictors for the kinds of abuse by private actors that the House bill would make possible. Take, for example, the cease-and-desist letters that Diebold, a maker of voting machines, sent in 2003, demanding that Internet service providers shut down Web sites that had published internal company e-mails about problems with the company’s voting machines. The letter cited copyright violations, and most of the service providers took down the content without question, despite the strong case to be made that the material was speech protected under the First Amendment.
Indeed. MacKinnon goes on to point out that this bill goes far beyond intellectual property protection. In particular, the House bill is set up to hold companies liable for users' actions. That would kill YouTube forever, but more importantly, it sets up an environment where power is freely wielded by those with the resources to shut down those without resources. Imagine Fox News declaring this site "rogue", for example. Search engines would block all traffic and results, and our right to speak freely (and criticize them freely) would be infringed upon. The same is true of Media Matters. Those with the lawyers and the money would win by default.
The Occupy movement? Dead. They'd shut down the Facebook and Twitter accounts along with the live stream without cause. Simply call it "rogue" and be done. That's how totalitarian societies operate and it's anathema to anyone who understands the Internet.
BusinessWeek : >
As Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures says in a blog post, what these bills do is expose a fundamental disconnect between proponents of an open Internet and companies and legislators who would rather create their own kind of Internet: a version of the Web that’s less chaotic, more respectful, and most importantly, a lot easier to control. As Burnham notes, that kind of Internet would make things a lot easier for content producers and entertainment conglomerates, but it would remove or imperil a lot of the things that make the Internet so valuable:
“The Internet is not just a series of pipes. Its core architecture embeds an assumption about human nature.
> The Internet is designed to empower individuals, not control them. It assumes that the if individuals are empowered, they will do the right thing the vast majority of the time.
”
Over the past few days, I've seen reports that this bill is dead and other reports that it's alive and kicking. There are many who are raising their voices against it, including Oregon Senator Wyden, who has placed a hold on it. Unfortunately, it's a bipartisan bill. It shouldn't be. No Democrat should support this kind of suppression online. None. No conservative with true respect for the Constitution should support this kind of suppression, and indeed, one of those who oppose it is Ron Paul, to his credit.
As much as it pains me to admit this, I find myself on the same side as Darrell Issa. Via The Hill : >
Issa said the rush to hold the hearing was based on the flawed assumption that the bipartisan bill would quickly become law and said the sponsors didn’t want to hear from opponents, but must now accept that there is real opposition to their bill.
“What they’re realizing is there are so many unintended consequences that they can’t just use Google as a piñata and bash on it here,” he said, citing the broad coalition of opposition encompassing the tech industry, the left and the right.
“I don’t believe this bill has any chance on the House floor,” Issa added when asked about the odds of the bill moving forward after passing the Judiciary Committee. “I think it’s way too extreme, it infringes on too many areas that our leadership will know is simply too dangerous to do in its current form.”
The bottom line here? Many of these lawmakers don't know enough about the Internet to understand the issues at stake. Further, as companies like Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Hulu and others develop ways to stream their content at affordable prices to users, piracy will likely decline. Dropping a nuclear bomb on the Internet is unnecessary to prevent piracy. This is really about control. Comcast wants control of what users can see and stream on their pipes, something I predicted back when they first proposed merging with NBC-Universal.
This attempt by mega-corporations to take control of the Internet needs to be stopped cold. There has been a huge online response expressing opposition, but it needs to continue. Please sign the EFF petition here , or call your representatives to register your opposition to a law which is unnecessarily draconian and serves only the interests of corporations who do not serve yours.
9 Views
18:43:16 09/03/11
Kthread Brycedotvc When People Ask Me The Hardest Part Of
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 18:43:16 09/03/11
kthread : >
brycedotvc : >
When people ask me the hardest part of being a VC, I have a pretty canned answer. It’s one I’ve used a lot over the last 10 years that I’ve been doing this, tho it’s grown more nuanced over time.
The hardest part of my job is that we are one step removed from making the actual things we fund. We don’t actually build the products, we don’t actually close the big sales, we don’t actually make the decisions that drive the businesses we fund. We give input at varying degrees of forcefulness. We make introduction and dive into back channels for feedback. We play a roles as supporting cast in the companies we fund, never getting to play the lead.
And sometimes that’s hard.
It’s hard when people you fund, people you genuinely care about, ignore your advice. It’s hard to watch them step on landmines you told them were in their path. It’s hard when you see something broken they choose not to fix. It’s hard when the company you thought you were funding becomes something entirely different. It’s hard when the cash runs out.
In the early days of developing a response to this question I would often say that VCs don’t actually make anything, we just fund the makers that do. I’ve since changed my tune on that, and this video taps into why.
It’s a short clip of the slam poet, Taylor Mali, recounting an exchange with a lawyer who questioned him about how much money he made as a teacher by asking “what do you make?”. Taylor flips that question into a moving riff on what a teacher makes that might surprise you. It might inspires you too.
You see, there’s a lot of noise out there in startup land. Caterina touches on this in her excellent post from last night: >
I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs in their 20s who are knowledgeable about the valuations various Y Combinator startups have attained, know the names of all the angel investors in the Valley, have in-depth knowledge of the Facebook diaspora and their doings, have opinions on various Zynga acquisitions, and know exactly how to get Andrew Mason on the line…it boggles the mind. These are good things to have in your tool kit. But I want to hear about things out there that they love. About loving the thing they’re building.
So, to hell with all that noise. It’s just a big mass of envy, chatter and FOMO . Let’s get excited and make things .
So, no, as a VC I don’t actually make the products we fund. I don’t make the headlines our founders do. And I don’t make the companies that change the world.
But I do make things.
I make palms sweat when I step into a conference room to hear a first pitch. I make questions that cut through you like a ginsu cuts through a tin can. I make poseurs walk and founders walk the talk. I make hearts sink when my number appears on caller ID. I make entrepreneur’s hearts break when I say “no” and founders high five when I say “yes”. I make parents proud of kids they feared could never keep a job. I make it possible for moms and dads to put bread on the table when their ambition outstrips their savings. I make founders believe when they can’t and doubt when they shouldn’t. Sometimes I make a difference. Sometimes I just make a mess. And, sometimes I make a leader by being someone’s first follower.
Now, what do you make?
It’s labor day weekend. Some will relax and unplug. Some will hunker down and work. But I hope all of you who watch this video will take time to think about what you are really making which is why it’s required weekend viewing here on BRYCE DOT VC.
There is a lot about being an entrepreneur that is gross. Not just hard beyond measure, but gross, and one of those is the way twentysomethings talk about exactly what Caterina points up in the passage Bryce quotes here.
I don’t know all the names of all the VCs and angels; I never will. I don’t want to try on ideas until a one fits a market and attempt to quickly exit and make everyone a pile. I may very likely never make it into a mentor program (I’ve been rejected from Techstars twice); I don’t look like three young guys with a kinda boring but investable enterprise idea, like most of those in the classes of grads I didn’t make it into.
I wear loudass vintage dresses. I make things that people love. For the past decade, I have helped international brands create content that proves them credible and interesting.
Give me a little more time to tell you about what happened with Galvanize , and know that I am making something very different, but similarly with love, and it’s going to take a while. It’s a big idea, it’s going to save a few people’s lives (not kidding), and I am going to finally be able to explain to my mom what it is that I do.
And while I am making this thing, I am going to keep teaching graduate students about how communities work, because they will create the tools we use next. If they don’t know how the Web started and what it looks like when things are made for love and the pleasure of creation before product/market fit and all the rest of that, then all of us in tech are really in trouble.
5 Views
08:04:08 07/02/11
WebBeat.TV 133 | Websites and tools that will save you time! Rescuetime.com, Wridea.om, Google Docs, Google Tasks, Remember the Milk, Monkey On Your Back, the email game, and HootSuite!!
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 08:04:08 07/02/11
"I've found the BEST online tools and websites that help you get things done! RescueTime If you ever look at the clock and wonder where your afternoon went -- check out RescueTime. The site claims,that on average, Rescue Time recovers almost 4 hours of productive time per week, per person. It's a wonderful web app that tells you exactly how much time you're spending on what. It basically just sits in the background of your Mac or PC while you are working, and records every page that you're looking at. Wridea Wridea is an online idea management service, with a bunch of brainstorming tools. Plus you easily share your genius ideas with colleagues and friends - and they can collaborate too. Google Tasks Now, what usually overwhelms me, is my to-do list. I create a bunch of them, every day, and I have to admit I still stick to pen and paper - but many people swear by Google Tasks. It can turn your Gmail emails into tasks, and set notes, deadlines, and alerts on your Google Calendars. So, it's all digital, you're not wasting paper, plus, you can access on the web or through their mobile app. Google Documents I use Google Documetns all the time to write scripts and stack the show and keep track of written articles on WebBeat.TV. I say, there is NO easier way to share and collaborate on documents - Google Docs wins HANDS DOWN! Remember the Milk This site lets you manage your to-do lists, but with every tool imaginable. They have a site, a phone app, and work through sms. It works with Google Calendar, and you can add tasks from Google, and most importantly: it’s free! Monkey on Your Back This site is your to-do-list for what you want OTHER people to do.You create a monkey for every task you want to delegate to someone else. The person will get an email reminder about the task, and you will get an email reminder when the deadline for the task has expired. The Email Game The folks behind the email game say they make checking your email 30% faster and 100% more fun! You get points for deleting emails fast, the more you go through, the more points you get. Hootsuite And finally, another tool that saves me a lot of time: Hootsuite. I've connected it to all my social media accounts, Facebook pages and Twitter lists. I have several social media streams, so I don't have to go from site to site -- it's a huge time saver. Plus, it lets you schedule tweets and Facebook posts, so if you know you'll be out for a bit, just schedule ahead."
1 Views
08:04:08 07/02/11
Web Beat Tv 133 | Websites And Tools That Will Save You Time! Rescuetime Com Wridea Om Google Docs Google Tasks Remember The Milk Monkey On Your Back The Email Game And Hoot Suite!!
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 08:04:08 07/02/11
"I've found the BEST online tools and websites that help you get things done! RescueTime If you ever look at the clock and wonder where your afternoon went -- check out RescueTime. The site claims,that on average, Rescue Time recovers almost 4 hours of productive time per week, per person. It's a wonderful web app that tells you exactly how much time you're spending on what. It basically just sits in the background of your Mac or PC while you are working, and records every page that you're looking at. Wridea Wridea is an online idea management service, with a bunch of brainstorming tools. Plus you easily share your genius ideas with colleagues and friends - and they can collaborate too. Google Tasks Now, what usually overwhelms me, is my to-do list. I create a bunch of them, every day, and I have to admit I still stick to pen and paper - but many people swear by Google Tasks. It can turn your Gmail emails into tasks, and set notes, deadlines, and alerts on your Google Calendars. So, it's all digital, you're not wasting paper, plus, you can access on the web or through their mobile app. Google Documents I use Google Documetns all the time to write scripts and stack the show and keep track of written articles on WebBeat.TV. I say, there is NO easier way to share and collaborate on documents - Google Docs wins HANDS DOWN! Remember the Milk This site lets you manage your to-do lists, but with every tool imaginable. They have a site, a phone app, and work through sms. It works with Google Calendar, and you can add tasks from Google, and most importantly: it’s free! Monkey on Your Back This site is your to-do-list for what you want OTHER people to do.You create a monkey for every task you want to delegate to someone else. The person will get an email reminder about the task, and you will get an email reminder when the deadline for the task has expired. The Email Game The folks behind the email game say they make checking your email 30% faster and 100% more fun! You get points for deleting emails fast, the more you go through, the more points you get. Hootsuite And finally, another tool that saves me a lot of time: Hootsuite. I've connected it to all my social media accounts, Facebook pages and Twitter lists. I have several social media streams, so I don't have to go from site to site -- it's a huge time saver. Plus, it lets you schedule tweets and Facebook posts, so if you know you'll be out for a bit, just schedule ahead."
1 Views
03:55:05 06/21/11
Web Beat Tv 128 Pawngo 2011 Version Of The Pawn Shop Infinadrive Giveaway Hover Com Discount Facebook In Real Life Unbox It And Munitio Earphones
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 03:55:05 06/21/11
"Make cash FAST with the 2011-version of the pawn shop, Facebook on the streets in real life, and a special offer for you WebBeat.TV viewers! Pawngo This site is the 2011-version of the Pawn Shop. Pawngo works just like a regular pawn shop, it gives loans in exchange for goods, like jewelry and electronics. Say, you need cash NOW, and you have a watch that's worth a lot of money. Just go to Pawngo, describe your watch, and they'll email you an offer within an hour. If you're in for the deal, you can Fedex your watch for free, and they'll send you the cash. When you've paid off your loan, you get your watch back. Interest rates are between 3 and 7 percent, and loan terms range from 3 to 6 months. If you don't pay your loan off in time, Pawngo will sell it. Don't worry though, about 90% off the people do pay their loans off. Infinadrive Giveaway Infinadrive is a new service, completely cloud based, that will make sure you never run out of space on your computer. It takes old files, and files you hardly ever huse, and moves them to a cloud drive - linking it back, so it still works - they're just cloud based. Try it for 3 months here: http://webbeat.tv/infinadrive Hover Discount Code If you're looking to register a new domain - make sure you use my discount code 'WebBeat' for 10% off at Hover.com. Hover has an excellent reputation, clear to-the-point prices, and great customer service: everything you want from a domain register service! Go to webbeat.tv/domains to watch a video of me explaining the details! Viral Video: Facebook to Real Life Website of the day: Unbox it! Every Friday, John P and Cali Lewis unbox a bunch of cool gadgets on GeekBeat LIVE. But what if you'd like to see more unboxings? http://webbeat.tv/unboxit"
0 Views
08:39:47 06/02/11
Israeli Ad Takes Asia by Storm
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 08:39:47 06/02/11
Israeli Ad Takes Asia by Storm
For more news and videos visit ? english.ntdtv.com Follow us on Twitter ? http Add us on Facebook ? facebook.com An ad put together by an Israeli advertising agency has caught the attention of Asian viewers -- by the millions. With its quirky take on Asian dictators and its message of change, the ad has become massively popular in Asia. Our team in Tel Aviv brings us the story. An Israeli soft drink commercial that spoofs military dictatorships is making waves in Asia. The creators of this ad estimate it's been watched by millions on the web -- most of them in China. And viewers are eager to weigh in. Here are some of their comments. 1. This commercial made me laugh so hard... 2. This is the most original and creative commercial that I have ever seen! 3. This must be a [South] Korean commercial. The Koreans dare to film something like this and laugh at their own people in the north... 4. Very creative! We wouldn't dare... Rani Carmeli, an independent Israeli director, worked on the ad. He says it's had a big response in China because it touches people's sentiments about regional dictatorships. [Rani Carmeli, Sprite Ad, Director]: "I think the reason it's working that strong is because it touches the nerve of a lot of people that want humor in the situation. They see every day the news in all the world, with strong dictatorships and they had enough. People want to enjoy life they don't want anybody to tell them what to do." At first the ad targeted the Israeli market ... From: NTDTV Views: 265 15 ratings Time: 03:01 More in News & Politics
18 Views
13:00:00 01/11/11
WebBeat.TV 049 The Digital Afterlife, The Man With The Golden Voice, JumpScan, and Will You Drop Cable TV This Year?
[LESS INFO] 18 VIEWS | ADDED 13:00:00 01/11/11
Digital Afterlife
We all like to share our thoughts online: Whether it%rsquos the latest funniest viral video, pictures of a newborn, or a tweet about that cute guy on the subway. But at some point, you%rsquoll send your last tweet. Yes, even your digital life will come to an end. Have you ever thought about that? What happens with your digital life when you die?
It might sound like a silly question, but actually, every year, about 375.000 Facebook users die. And our online lifes are changing the way we remember, grieve, and even can have legal implications.
There are several startups devoted to taking control of your digital afterlife. Just take a look at the digital beyond.com, legacy locker and datainherit - these sites promise they%rsquoll manage all the details of your digital death: making sure your passwords are stored, and granting access to online accounts to people you want. Legacy locker says around 10.000 people have signed up for its service.
The services seem similar to a traditional will. And if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean, if we try to control the way we%rsquore preceived in life, why not take care of the afterlife as well?
Will You Drop Cable TV This Year?
If you%rsquore like many, you might not upgrade your cable television package this year - instead, you might just drop cable completely.And why not, with Netflix, Hulu Plus, Apple TV? So what do you think: is this the year that many will drop cable and satellite all together? Let me know, leave a comment at webbeat.tv/49.
Viral Video: The Man With the Golden Voice
You might have seen this video by now - it%rsquos a must see. It%rsquos about a homeless man who stood on the side of the road every day, but after this viral video, he%rsquos known on the web as the man with the golden voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rPFvLUWkzs
The man%rsquos name is Ted Williams. He became an overnight internet sensation - people tracked him, and apparently, his fame landed him a pretty good gig...maybe even a few! He will now visit his 92-year old mother for the first time in years - and he seems very happy with all the new changes.
Website of the Day: JumpScan You%rsquore probably familiar with QR codes - those matrix bar codes you scan to get info on a business, a store or a brand. But now, with jumpscan http://jumpscan.com/ , anyone can create a personal QR code. Your personal code can be scanned by a smartphone, which leads to a personal mobile landing page with contact info. So that means, anyone can take a picture of your QR code and automatically be redirected to your JumpScan page. Let the creativeness begin, I say! Pretty awesome!
2 Views
11:44:27 12/18/10
Thursday Thirteen V48
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 11:44:27 12/18/10
I've been spending the last day or so doing more clearance from the garage. I can see the floor again now. There's a few observations about some of the stuff.
1) There's been some furniture there which we have been unsuccessful to even give away. That's not to say that we didn't successfully donate a few items including a bed, two wardrobes, two tables, a set of four chairs and some other bits and pieces. It even included a disassembled kit which someone wanted to rebuild.
2) The miscellaneous hand basins and similar have all gone. They were not re-usable in any case.
3) A few tools looked to be over ambitious and have resided as 'investments' rather than practical items. They have now quietly disappeared (OK except the electric plane and the dangerous flame blasting paint stripper)
4) Records and increasingly books are going digital. The vinyls are still hanging in there because of the artwork of some of the covers. Probably 75% of them are now available digitally. My most tricky acquisition was Retribution by Clark Hutchinson. There's a CD copy around but it's just not as clean as the original album. The cassette tapes I found are now all goners.
5) I realise that the various anthology books I've acquired at different times are not all that sensible. They are too big to read. My Kafka, Huxley, Orwell and Lawrence mega books have not been read although the individual stories have as separate paperbacks.
6) Despite the plaintive cries from the book publishers, I can't help thinking that more book reading will go digital over the next few years. My own recent experience of this has been much better than I expected.
7) After spending some time in L.A., where I had access to a vinyl record player, I'm sorely tempted to restore one of the decks I've found and have a small filtered selection of about 10 vinyls for casual playing.
8) I can't believe how much spare cabling of many types I unearthed. It was mainly for PS/2 style connections of keyboards, parallel printer cables and serial connections. None of these connections even exist on modern technology so they are really defunct now.
9) I have a large pile of Hard drive disks varying from 100GB upwards. Most have shown signs of unreliability, so I can't really use them, but I also can't dispose of them because of what they may contain. I shall have to look further into this. I realise my minimum unit of non laptop disk is now 1Terabyte, which only a few years ago would seem somewhat excessive.
10) I think I have spotted several species of spider during the clearance work. I saw plenty of pholcus phalangioides (they are the clear coloured spindly ones) a few segestria senoculata (they live in the holes that have been drilled in the brickwork) some pardosa amentata (they are the wolfy ones that run about without webs) and some enormous tegenaria duellica (they are the big spring suspension spiders that suddenly appear on walls at night). I expect there are a few more as sometimes I felt like I was in that scene from Indiana Jones. There's at least one of each type in the picture below.
11) There were a few previously packed crates that now Have No Meaning or Logic. I was able to dispose of them without really examining the contents.
12) I have decided that keeping boxes from purchases is not very sensible unless one wishes them to eventually be placed in a museum. As an example, the 25 inch Black Trinitron box from another era had just been filled with old broken watering cans and small segments of hose pipe. Apart from a rodent nest made from old chewed bus tickets in one corner, it didn't seem to have served any useful purpose.
13) An important stage has now been passed in the clearance project. The floor is now visible in a circle and its possible to Walk Around and Look Across the space. Testing it on others though is less convincing. They still look bemused at the amount of stuff and mutter things along the lines of "you should have shown me what it was like before."
There. Thirteen. It must be Thursday.
26 Views
08:19:40 12/04/10
David Rovics - Burn it Down
[LESS INFO] 26 VIEWS | ADDED 08:19:40 12/04/10
Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies. He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).This is a zgraphix production. Produced by Jeff Zavala. http://zgraphix.orgLyrics to Burn it Down:Rodney Coronado was arrested for a speechThat he gave one evening by the San Diego beachHe stated his opinions, they sounded just like mineAnd now they want to put him behind bars til 2029The prosecutor said the problem was the speech it showed intentI couldn't figure out exactly what he meantYou can't describe an action and say you thought that it was swellSo what'll happen when we sing this, who the heck can tell(Chorus)We don't like the condo (bulldozer, Wal-Mart) and we're gonna burn it downCorporate terrorists, drive them out of townWe'll bring a lot of gasoline, pour it on the floorLight a match, say a prayer and run right out the doorBurn it down, burn it down, we're going to burn it downBurn it down, burn it down, burn it downNow if you just sang that chorus then you just broke the lawTo be an eco-terrorist now you just gotta flap your jawAnd hey who knows by the time you have a chance to blinkWhether you're a criminal might depend on what you think(Chorus)Now they come for Rod, maybe next they come for youAnd I'll tell you what I think all of us should doSing this song with me, raise your fist and caterwaulIf we fight together they can't arrest us all(Chorus)
3 Views
08:19:40 12/04/10
David Rovics Burn It Down
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 08:19:40 12/04/10
Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies. He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible.Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine.This was filmed at MonkeyWrench Books (http://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org).This is a zgraphix production. Produced by Jeff Zavala. http://zgraphix.orgLyrics to Burn it Down:Rodney Coronado was arrested for a speechThat he gave one evening by the San Diego beachHe stated his opinions, they sounded just like mineAnd now they want to put him behind bars til 2029The prosecutor said the problem was the speech it showed intentI couldn't figure out exactly what he meantYou can't describe an action and say you thought that it was swellSo what'll happen when we sing this, who the heck can tell(Chorus)We don't like the condo (bulldozer, Wal-Mart) and we're gonna burn it downCorporate terrorists, drive them out of townWe'll bring a lot of gasoline, pour it on the floorLight a match, say a prayer and run right out the doorBurn it down, burn it down, we're going to burn it downBurn it down, burn it down, burn it downNow if you just sang that chorus then you just broke the lawTo be an eco-terrorist now you just gotta flap your jawAnd hey who knows by the time you have a chance to blinkWhether you're a criminal might depend on what you think(Chorus)Now they come for Rod, maybe next they come for youAnd I'll tell you what I think all of us should doSing this song with me, raise your fist and caterwaulIf we fight together they can't arrest us all(Chorus)
3 Views
07:50:14 11/25/10
David Rovics - I Wanna Go Home
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 07:50:14 11/25/10
MonkeyWrench Books and Palestine Online Store are happy to host this evening of music and politics with David Rovics. Described by Amy Goodman as the "musical version of Democracy Now!," Rovics is an internationally celebrated political folks musician. David has traveled the world as a professional flat-picking rabble-rouser, and regularly tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls and protest rallies. He has shared the stage with a veritable of who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera and other networks. His essays are published regularly on CounterPunch elsewhere, and the 200+ songs he makes available for free on the web have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh, he will make you cry, he will make the revolution irresistible. Palestine Online Store (http://www.palestineonlinestore.com/) is the web's leading website marketing products from or about Palestine. Lyrics: I was born a refugee And I don't know if I'll ever see The old farmhouse I've heard about But it's where I belong, there is no doubt 'Cause my whole family is from that farm And we never did nobody harm And if you're confused by what you've heard Let me boil it down to a single word (Chorus) I wanna go home... And I have heard my grandpa say That on the street most every day The neighbors' kids would kick a ball With my dad when he was small We were Christians, they were Jews But it was no big deal, religious views So it was strange when at the point of a gun Across the river we had to run (Chorus) We had dabkeh, we had songs And we all knew where we belonged We grew crops, life was good There in the land where Jesus stood Now we're scattered everywhere But there's no peace anywhere I'm just searching for some kind of sign For some way back to Palestine (Chorus)This is a zgraphix production. Produced by Jeff Zavala. http://zgraphix.org
17 Views
01:38:35 11/19/10
Wintergrasp - Rated BGs - BestBuy DevChat
[LESS INFO] 17 VIEWS | ADDED 01:38:35 11/19/10
Wintergrasp queuing changed in 4.0.3
In patch 4.0.3, Wintergrasp queuing was changed so that each battle attempts to match the factions at a 1-to-1 ratio. This is the exact system being used for Tol Barad in Cataclysm. While we understand that this inflates queue times for factions which are vastly overpopulated on select realms, we prefer this system over using Tenacity. In addition, the new system at least encourages playing on a faction that's better balanced against the opposing faction. With the old Wintergrasp functionality, players were almost encouraged to be on an overpopulated faction, further contributing to realm balance issues.
That said, we'll review realms with significant faction imbalances on a case-by-case basis in the event we need to take further action.
Rated Battlegrounds FAQ
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is just around the corner -- and that means Rated Battlegrounds will soon be available. While Rated Battlegrounds will only be open to level-85 characters, we know many of you may still have some questions about this new system, so we’ve put together an FAQ to help address some of the more common inquiries we've seen.
Q. What are Rated Battlegrounds?
A. Like the Arena system, Rated Battlegrounds are an alternative way for players to battle against opponents of similar skill levels and accrue rating to purchase powerful PvP gear. Instead of competing in a 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 bracket, though, you'll be testing your mettle in familiar environments like Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm, as well as all-new Battlegrounds set to release in Cataclysm.
Q. How are Rated Battlegrounds structured?
A. Rated Battlegrounds are broken down into two brackets: 10v10 and 15v15. These brackets rotate weekly and can be viewed in-game via the calendar by activating the Battleground holiday filter.
Q. What Battlegrounds are eligible for Rated Battleground matches?
A. Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients, Battle for Gilneas, and Twin Peaks.
Q. What happened to the 25v25 bracket?
A. We decided to remove this bracket. We don't feel it's feasible to ask players to coordinate a group of 25 players for Rated Battlegrounds. If any player happens to drop group just before a match begins, the raid group would not be able to enter the battle. We anticipate most players or guilds will stick with fairly dedicated 10-player groups, and making the jump to 15-player groups shouldn't be too difficult.
Q. How can I queue for a Rated Battleground?
A. Before entering the queue, you must first create a raid with the full number of players required for the weekly bracket (10 or 15). Any level-85 player on your realm and of your faction may participate in the battle regardless of guild association.
Once you have a raid of the appropriate size, simply open up the PvP window, click on the Conquest tab, highlight "Rated Battleground," and then click "Join Battle."
Q. Can I queue up solo and just be matched with a Rated Battleground team?
A. No. You will need to first join a raid of the appropriate size and level before you can queue up for a Rated Battleground. Individual queuing will not be available for Rated Battlegrounds.
Q. Do all players in the raid group have to be from the same guild in order to queue for a Rated Battleground?
A. No. So long as the raid group size matches the weekly bracket and is comprised of level-85 players, you can queue up for a Rated Battleground no matter what guild you are in. Guild membership has no effect on the formation of Battleground teams.
Winning a Rated Battleground with a team composed of at least 80% guild members, however, will result in the additional benefit of guild experience gain for that guild.
Q. How can I tell if my Rated Battleground team meets the minimum guild requirement?
A. If you join a Rated Battleground with the minimum number of required guild members, a special guild banner will appear in the upper-left corner of the in-game mini-map. This will let you know if you are eligible for the bonus guild experience.
Q. What are the normal benefits of winning a Rated Battleground?
A. When you win a Rated Battleground, you will be rewarded Conquest points, up to your weekly cap. Weekly caps are individual for each player and are based on your highest single PvP rating from the previous week (the cap resets on Tuesdays). This rating can be derived from your 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 Arena rating or your Rated Battleground rating.
Q. What Rated Battleground rating do players start out with?
A. Players start at zero Rated Battleground rating and progress upward from there. If you lose a battle, your Rated Battleground rating will only be reduced if that rating is currently higher than your Match Making Value (MMV). For the most part, a rating only goes up.
Q. What’s MMV?
A. Match Making Value (or MMV for short) is our best measure of an individual player's skill. MMV is the skill rating per format (2v2, 3v3, 5v5, Battleground) and per character that is used for matchmaking. It exists to help the matchmaking system create great matches as quickly as possible for all players. It's generally not a rating we show, with the exception of an average MMV for Arena teams.
Q. Will my MMV go down in the event of a Rated Battleground loss?
A. Yes; however, unlike Arenas, all players in a Rated Battleground team will win or lose the same amount of Rated Battleground rating per match depending on its outcome.
Q. Does MMV for Rated Battlegrounds function the same as it does in Arenas (i.e. does it go up more when you beat a higher-rated team, and go down more when you lose to a lower-rated team)?
A. Yes. Your MMV will go up faster if you defeat a Rated Battleground team with a higher average MMV.
Q. What’s the plan to prevent your Rated Battleground rating from skyrocketing at high win ratios? If your rating only goes down when it is above your MMV, it seems that ratings will just be high on average (compared to Arena).
A. If your Rated Battleground rating gets inflated much beyond your MMV, you’ll only receive a minimal amount of points when you win. Similarly, you’ll lose many more points after a defeat, until your Rated Battleground rating gets back in line with your MMV. This will prevent inflation.
Q. Can consumables and engineering items be used in Rated Battlegrounds?
A.Yes, but they will follow the same rules and restrictions as Arenas.
Q. Will Rated Battleground teams only be matched against other teams in their Battlegroup?
A. No. Rated Battlegrounds will be region-wide, meaning that when you queue for a Rated Battleground, you will have the opportunity to be matched against a team from any of our North American World of Warcraft realms.
Q. Are there any plans to reward players with the highest Rated Battleground rating, similar to Arenas?
A. Epic ground mounts will be rewarded at the end of each season to the top 0.5% of players according to Rated Battleground rating. Titles are also available as you gain rating in the system. The titles are rewarded directly from achievements earned from gaining the required rating.
Developer Chat Hosted by Best Buy (transcript)
Will the heirloom items scale to 85?
The current plan is to have heirloom items stop at level 80 at the moment.
I was wondering what new and exciting mounts there will be and what your favorite so far is?
Not surprisingly there are all kinds of new mounts, we have spectral wolf/horse mounts, a dark phoenix, a camel, the new alchemy mount that turns you into a drake can ride, among others. Also a scorpion for the horde and a lion for the alliance. My favorite has to be the camel though... i mean really, who doesn't want to be a camel jockey?!
Has Blizzard considered adding a "Tabards Tab" to the UI, so that tabard collectors can switch out tabards more effectively without having to take up bank and bag space? --Thanks! Deathunholy of Galakrond
We have talked about adding a tabard tab. We've talked about doing a closet tab to handle it. It isn't something we are adding for Cataclysm though.
Will it be as long of a wait to fight Deathwing as it was for Lich King?
Hopefully not, we definitely have a goal to get our content patches out more quickly than we have in the past, without sacrificing quality of course, we plan for deathwing to be the most amazing encounter we've ever made! =]
Are there any plans to potentially add queueing to the rated battlegrounds instead of it having to be a pre-made raid team? I was really excited when I first heard about this feature, but after reading the FAQ i was a bit disappointed with that design.
We're currently looking into the possibility of having players in the honor battleground queue be able to be called to action by groups that aren't quite full, but we're going to see how the current queue'ing works out first so, that isn't something that would be available just yet
Will you allow players to fill their quest log with say, 25 dailies, and then turn them in right after Midnight on December 7th to get a quick boost towards 85? This is how it worked in the beta, but some players are confused on whether it will work on Live. Thanks!
Regarding 25 daily quests to turn in when the expansion goes live, this is something players have been able to do for the last 2 expansions and we aren't talking about changing it now.
I understand the decision from an economic perspective but I was wondering if the deveopers were disappointed in the decision to allow race changes immediately following the release of the expansion.
Regarding allowing race/faction change on day one. Actually this wasn't an economic decision at all. This was a decision that the leadership team made. Our priority as a dev team is to allow players to play the game with their friends, the way they want too. We also talked about the fact that this is a week one problem. So we made the decision not to restrict anything.
Will Darnasus be re built to be a real tree or will it always look like a dead stump with trees at the top?
...but now that Deathwing is doing his thing it makes much more sense than it used to! ;]
Deathwing hates trees.
A lot of players I know are trying to plan out what characters to roll for the new expansion, and the big question is: Will there be ANY new realms tagging along with the release of Cataclysm? Some point to low pop realms as a reason against, but surely with the redux'd 1-60 experience and the droves of returning players desiring clean slates, there has never been a better time for a fresh realm or two?
We haven't decided exactly what the new realm decisions are yet, but we open new realms when there is player demand for them. One thing we can't do is plan all realms for day one. The goal is for realms to have good concurrency so everyone has a great game/matchmaking experience.
Could you comment on the plan for raids in Cataclysm? If i remember it was said that there would be smaller raids in cata but more of them. Would that mean like two small raids per patch or more patches in total?
The idea is that we'll have more raid environments, but fewer bosses in each environment, but a similar total number of raid bosses overall... if that makes sense. =] so, for cataclysm launch we have the skywall environment, the twilight bastion environment, and blackwing descent, versus having almost all the bosses in one environment like we did with naxrammas.
With the changes to the game environment itself, what new computer requirements will be optimal to run the game smoothly?
One of the things that is really important to us is a great gaming experience regardless of your hardware. While the system requirements do go up over time, we do want the experience on slower machines to be great. We do this by trying to add a lot of graphical options to allow players to control the experience from "runs fast" all the way to "looks great".
Will there be more than one Legendary weapon in Cata? Will there be a Caster DPS legendary? Any info or plans would be awesome =) Thanks!
It's likely there will be more than one legendary weapon, although it's too early to say for sure. We do, however, have a plan to do a caster dps staff soon.
Where did Uldum come from?
Egypt ;]
The idea with Uldum is that it has always been there, cloaked from the eyes of the players. The emergence of Deathwing has damaged some of the technology that kept it hidden. There is a story in the zone that explains this and what has been happening in the player absence.
With resource systems now broadened to include focus, rage, energy, and runic power as well as mana, and there being conditionals like enrages, holy power, combo points and runes, will classes that just use mana be getting similar treatment or remaining as they are?
Really that decision is made on a class-by-class, talent tree-by-tree basis. If we feel like the talent spec in question needs a broader resource management then we do it, but we don't like to unnecessarily complicate a spec's resource management if it isn't absolutely necessary.
Why is it that we are not able to use Archaeology before the expansion? I thought it was really cool how you guys released Inscription last time and would love to have the opportunity to level it before the expansion drops.
Using archeology before the expansion was something we talked about, but ended up adding everything about the profession to the "post sundered" world. Thus, you won't be able to use archeology before the sundering happens.
The first tier of Cataclysm raiding has 3 separate instances to tackle. Are you guys planning on keeping with the Burning Crusade model (SSC/TK, BT/Hyjal) and having multiple instances per raid tier? Will Deathwing have to share the spotlight with some other instance?
We'll evaluate that on a tier by tier basis. When we have awesome ideas that we can successfully make happen we'll do multiple environments, but it won't necessarily always be the case. We do have a super cool idea for the deathwing tier though... ...or at least so we hope. =]
What happened with the Worgen district in Stormwind?
We decided it didn't really fit very well, it was looking kind of awkwardly forced into the city. Plus deathwing would have destroyed it anyways.
As the world of Azeroth is changing I was wondering if the Death Knight zone will stay the same or will it also be affected by the cataclysm?
The death knight zone doesn't have any changes for Cataclysm.
I have been confused from the different posts for tier gear. Will there be three levels within each tier still or just heroic and normal and in either case will u just be getting them with points or will u still have to get certain things off drops off certain bosses to get the higher more heroic version of the tier gear?
There is still just normal and heroic difficulty for the raid and dungeon content, and the heroic gear has a higher item level than the corresponding normal gear
Do you feel faction imbalance is a problem at the moment? My queue is around 10-15 min at prime time as a member of the Horde and I know this is the case on at least two of the battlegroups. If so, do you think Worgen will fix the problem? And if they do not, will free faction changes ever be a possibility in the future on battlegroups or servers with a major problem?
We are working on some technology to further combine the PVP queues at server sites. This has been going on behind the scenes for a few weeks now in preparation for Cataclysm. Queue time is one of those things that gets a lot of attention and time, but will change significantly post Cata. Really good question.
What would you say was the hardest and/or easiest parts of developing this expansion? After all, many are saying this is the best expansion to date... So, what was the biggest challenge/easiest feat in creating it?
There have been huge challanges with this expansion, unlike any we've seen in the other two expansions. The scale of Cataclyms is huge for us, and something we didn't really expect when we started development. But we certainly feel like the effort has been worth it, and feel it's our best expansion so far.
Why does it seem the scorpion guild mount doesn't have a guild flag where the lion does? I was hoping to see Hordes of scorpions from our guild walking around with our tabard hanging from the tail like a flag behind them.
When riding a scorpion mount, your character displays holding a large standard with your guild symbol on it.
Why did you decide to make 310% mount speed purchasable in 4.0? It's a huge price for such a tiny speed upgrade, and used to work well as a just-above-vanity perk for people who completed the toughest achievements.
The primary reason was to equalize the awesome vanity mounts players had, and change the mechanic to one where you used the mount you were most excited about using. We wanted players to be able to see the mount players want, without considering the speed differential as a factor.
Will you allow players to change their login screen? I'd love to be able to use the Classic login screen, the unreleased one that was shown at Blizzcon, or perhaps a login screen of a previous expansion.
Players are not able to change their login screen.
How would a person get a Guild Mount? Would it be guild rep? If so how would that be calculated or obtained?
Once your guild gets to a high enough level and unlocks the guild mount, any player in the guild with a high enough guild reputation is able to buy the mount.
Will heirloom items work for goblins and worgens leveling from 1-80 at release?
Heirloom items will work perfectly for Worgen and Goblin characters! Enjoy!
Has there been any discussion of changing the heirloom items to true "Bind on Account" instead of the bind on server limitation that it has currently?
That is something we would like to do. Currently the servers mail carriers refuse to work together, and haven't worked out the economic terms from transferring mail from one server to another. One day we hope to resolve the union issues.
Will the option ever be available to change ones class, contingent upon what's currently available to the race restrictions at the time?
Never say never, but we don't currently have plans to do that.
There's any through about making account wise achievement, like Starcraft ones? It a reason for many players to not reroll/change mains since its look like a lot of work wasted when you switch your main char. Even changing to another char to help with one fight look a bit wrong now, if you are after achievements.
We do have plans to solve this problem, as it is limiting people from re-rolling for sure. This is something we want to solve, but don't have a good solution on how to do it at the moment.
Was there anything you guys regret not being able to include at launch? Possibly something that didn't have enough polish to it that me way see in the future? (You don't need to mention the Dance Studio at this point, really, it's okay)
Well... there is the dance studio. ;] There are of course always things we'd hoped to get into any patch/expansion that get pushed out until later. One example would be the idea to have a built-in atlas that details every encounter in each dungeon/raid. We're not super happy about the fact that the first time anyone encounters a new boss, the only way to learn about it (other than looking up strategies on the web) is to charge in and die a lot.
We'd love to give players some idea of what they're about to fight before they engage the boss. =]
Do honor points and Badges roll over into CATA, or do they reset to zero?
Yes, honor points and justice points carry over into cataclysm. Stock up now!
Is there any talks of maybe some faction cooperative campaigns? Since the cataclysm is threatening to destroy all life of azeroth, to me a logical response from the heroes of azeroth would be to set aside their differences and be able to work together in a raid. An Idea to maybe lessen the frequency of such groups is make the raid difficulty increase by choosing to work with the other faction, a sort of Heroic mode. Possibly even dual faction specific raids. Has there been any talks of such poss...
This is a common request, but not something we are looking to do. While there is a singular main bad guy in this expansion, the Horde and Alliance have their own unique challenges and agendas, and typically don't look to team up. After all it's the World of Warcraft, not the World of Peacecraft.
When designing expansions and content patches, do you have a list of new features to choose from that are planned out in advance or is there more of a brain storm session?
The feature set for each patch is determined by a combination of doing things (or finishing things) that we've been wanting to do for a while, along with completely new ideas that emerge as a result of the immediate needs of the game
The primary things you won't be able to do if you don't have Cataclysm are create a new Goblin/Worgen, level to 85, and fly in the orld world.
We like to stay as flexible as possible, so it's important to us to make sure that we aren't "over planned" into the future even though the real needs players have are changing
With the previous two expansions, the new content was actually on other continents, so if you didn't have the expansion, you just couldn't visit the continent. Since Cata is largely reworking of old-world content, however, how do you differentiate between someone with or without the xpac? What kinds of things will and won't be available to players don't have the upgrade?
See my answer above!
Will the 80 to 85 experience be closer to the 18hr mark or the 5 day mark that was 70-80?
That totally depends on the player to be honest, you'd be amazed by the differences in play patterns. That being said, somebody usually finds a way to level up very quickly.
What new feature(s) in WoW: Cataclysm are you guys most proud of?
I would have to say the 1-60 revamp, it's a ton of fun to play through the zones and an incredible amount of new content.
I'm most happy with the new Worgen and Goblin starting experiences. I think they are the best starting experience we've ever done, and that includes the death knight.
I have is why not have this latest expansion as a new territory like a Southrend similar to Northrend or a Moon body like Outlands instead of destroying Azeroth and Kalimdor? Were there limitations to expanding outwards or was this just to facelift the original game?
We make decisions like this on a case by case basis.. again depending on the needs of the game. In the case of Cataclysm, the world was due in for an overhaul, and we wanted to make everything fly-able, so it was important to flesh out any areas that were originally unfinished.
Can you clarify and confirm what will be available to players when 4.0.3a hits and what will be unavailable until 7th Dec?
4.0.3a will be the patch that actually causes the world to shatter and change forever. At that point you will be able to experience the new 1-60 leveling experience, as well as the new race/class combinations.
Is there an alternative mount for worgens that other races can ride
Worgen can ride the other mounts in the game, if that's what you're asking. They're not limited to their feral run.
With the level 1-80 Heirloom items, when Cataclysm is released will the xp gain work while leveling until you hit level 81? Or will XP gain be disabled for those on release?
They will not. Heirlooms stop granting their XP bonus at level 80. Not level 80.999999.
Will achievement points ever be able to be used to purchase any perks?
We have no plans to allow this. Achievements are a badge of honor only.
Druid
Is the Moonkin form for troll and worgen on the beta and ptr the final form or is it just a placeholder?
Final!
Mage
Right now, up to 50% of Ignite damage disappears due to the technical limitations of spells critting within certain timeframes. This has implications for Mage dps and the value of Mastery as a stat. Is overall damage being balanced to compensate and can we expect a solution in the near future?
We're resolving that by rolling up any "lost" ignite damage into the next ignite that overwrote it
Warlock
Are there any plans for a new Lock mount? I would love to see a possible flying mount for Locks..
One of the things we look at with mounts is broad appeal. While we do specific class mounts from time to time, most of the time we look to have mounts that all classes can use.
Warrior
Is Hit rating intended to tramp all other stats but Str for Fury till the 27% hardcap? Seems excessive
Generally speaking, we do balance hit rating to be the "best" stat until you're at the hit rating cap
39 Views
11:59:37 09/27/10
Grant Hill - Stop MRSA Now
[LESS INFO] 39 VIEWS | ADDED 11:59:37 09/27/10
In this episode of The Lab, Daddy Clay talks with NBA basketball player Grant Hill about MRSA. Hill suffered from a MRSA infection and he's teamed up with Clorox and Swap Me Sports to educate other about this antibiotic resistant staph infection. MRSA, once seen mainly in hospitals and other health care facilities, is now seen in places like schools, gyms, and health clubs. MRSA poses a risk for young athletes and Grant gives advice to parents on what to say to their kids to get them to take precautions to prevent it. He shares a few tips such as using bandages on cuts, using bleach when cleaning, and remembering to always wash hands. For more information, visit the web site at StopMRSANow.org. DadLabs Ep. 686 is brought to you by BabyBjorn. Distributed by Tubemogul.
0 Views
11:59:37 09/27/10
Grant Hill - Stop MRSA Now
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 11:59:37 09/27/10
In this episode of The Lab, Daddy Clay talks with NBA basketball player Grant Hill about MRSA. Hill suffered from a MRSA infection and he's teamed up with Clorox and Swap Me Sports to educate other about this antibiotic resistant staph infection. MRSA, once seen mainly in hospitals and other health care facilities, is now seen in places like schools, gyms, and health clubs. MRSA poses a risk for young athletes and Grant gives advice to parents on what to say to their kids to get them to take precautions to prevent it. He shares a few tips such as using bandages on cuts, using bleach when cleaning, and remembering to always wash hands. For more information, visit the web site at StopMRSANow.org. DadLabs Ep. 686 is brought to you by BabyBjorn. Distributed by Tubemogul.
11 Views
01:44:32 09/21/10
Ride The Pine’s 1 Millionth View
[LESS INFO] 11 VIEWS | ADDED 01:44:32 09/21/10
We are very proud to announce that after the launch of our last episode, Hard Knocks for Ines Sainz , we hit our 1,000,000 view with our great partners at Mevio. Tonight, before we kick off the show, we have footage of the person who was our 1 millionth viewer...
Just start the show...
Welcome to Ride The Pine ...Let’s Talk Sports!
Michael Vick or Kevin Kolb ? The biggest debate in all of the NFL rages on. Vick led the Eagles to their first victory of the season against the Detroit Lions (which is not saying much) while Kevin Kolb recovered from a concussion. Eagles head coach, Andy Reid , said that he will be starting Kolb in Week 3.
Well this is exactly the same question that we asked on the last episode of RideThePine.com . 75% of you said Michael Vick should be the Eagles starting quarterback. I think its a little too early to make a decision on Kevin Kolb, what the Eagles should really worry about is how their defense can allow the Lions to score 32 points with their back up quarterback, Shaun Hill . That’s a problem.
I really hope the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts never play a game against each other ever, ever again. If I have to see Archie talk about the tough backyard basketball games they played against each other I’m going to throw up. Which gave me a great idea for this episode poll on RideThePine.com . Which Manning do you hate the most? Peyton or Eli. The results will be announced on the next episode.
Happy you came back Brett Favre , nice 0-2 start. How do you feel in those Wranglers now. Real. Comfortable. Interceptions.
Sleeper pick of my fantasy draft was done by me. Chicago Bears’ QB, Jay Cutler . Did you know he was dating Kristin Cavallari from The Hills . Neither did I. Does that matter? Not really, it just gives us a reason to show her picture.
Baseball is fun again, because the magic numbers are in play...Be on the lookout for teams clinching playoff spots real soon.
Time for The Last Shot . What’s the Last Shot? Check out RideThePine.com for more details... Tonight’s last shot...a Caption This with your comments from RideThePine.com and Facebook.com/RideThePine - Like Us NOW...
Last shot in 3,2,1...
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