It’s College Football Eve and there’s a good chance some of the guys and girls you're working with are a bit giddy today. Jumpy in ways they aren’t ordinarily. It’s not the alcohol or drug withdrawal, it’s just because those of us who are college football fans can feel it in the pit of our stomachs—the most glorious, and shortest, sports season of the year is less than 24 hours away. We’ve only got 12 ...

It's looking like a pretty slow news day, so let me pass on something I just found (via Pop Candy) that's been out on DVD since January but is amazing. Drakmar: A Vassal's Journey is an incredibly low-budget documentary following 14-year-old Colin Taylor, a teen who deals with bullying and and a broken home by retreating to the world of medieval fantasy (putting him in sort of a feedback loop, since it turns out dramatic ...

A month or so ago, The Brothers Bloom trailer charmed me with its Dirty Rotten Scoundrels/Shooting Fish caper by way of Wes Anderson feel, because I'm a sucker for that kind of crap. Somehow I forgot to post it then, so here it is now, aged but still worth spending two minutes with, like grandma. It's by the guy who did Brick! Thanks to Mike for the reminder.

番茄花园倒掉了，结果网上很多朋友哭的情真意切。盗版的支持者的论调和多年前的论调比起来，没什么区别。 中国无数的电脑使用者在选择软件的时候不是抱着“我要选择的软件太贵没办法只好用盗版”的心态来使用盗版，而是抱着“选软件 就是要用盗版”的心态来选软件。 事实上，盗版软件的泛滥不但没有帮助中国的计算机应用普及，反而极大阻碍了中国人对计算机高科技功能的享受。 保护软件版权，不是单纯的法律问题，其实，是关系我们信息产业发展的重大话题。 ——————– 我知道通过网络说服一个已经认定一件事情的人是很困难的，所以我在这个帖子里所有回复的目的不是要说服那些坚定的盗版者，甚至不是去试图说服任何一个人，我只是表明我的观点，我的逻辑。 以上…… 我们从游戏说起. 很多玩家的心里藏着两个美好的梦：梦想有朝一日，我们能在软件店的货架上看到国外也才刚刚发售的 PC 游戏大作；梦想有朝一日，我们也能做出《暗黑破坏神》、《最终幻想》那样优秀的单机游戏。 很多玩家仍然在怀念热闹非凡的 2001 。那一年，国内单机游戏的代理商有 50 多家，研发商有 30 多家。那一年，软件店里摆满了琳琅满目的游戏，上市的新作有 300 多款。 四年后的2005年，这一数字陡降至 35款。到2007年，这一数字已经无法达到两位数了，今年？我已经不知道还有没有单机游戏这个东西了。同步发售已经成为遥不可及的梦，市场上，让代理商 们争得头破血流的国外大作越来越少，二流游戏和老游戏成为主流，特价版铺天盖地，伪正版更是无孔不入。国产游戏中，除了中国台湾省的几款知名单机游戏的续 作仍在陆续推出外，大陆本土的原创作品几乎消失殆尽。 九年历史的奥美倒下了，成立八年的新天地消失了，曾经雄心勃勃的布卡也已关门大吉。一些小代理商虽未正式倒闭，却也已经很久没有新品上市，他们或在转型， 或在等待，或是通过某些上不了台面的手段苦苦支撑。正规的单机游戏代理商只剩下寰宇之星、星空娱动、娱乐通等不到 10家，他们的日子也远不像外界以为的那样滋润。在娱乐通，我们看到十几个人在一间 60多平米的屋子里工作，狭窄的过道上堆满游戏。压缩成本已经成为单机游戏厂商眼下的首要任务。 是谁剪碎了我们的梦？从 5元一张，到几十元一盒，到免费下载，各种形式的盗版不断吞噬着正版的生存空间，也让厂商不得不“弃暗投明”，转投网络游戏的大潮。 游戏厂商不像MS那样有全球利润来帮他们填补中国大陆市场的亏空，为了生存下去，很多游戏厂商都按照一些抱怨软件价格太高的盗版者的建议，采取了降价来换 取市场占有率的方式来谋求自身的残喘，这就是你们收藏的28元、38元、69元的正版游戏软件定价，可是，这样的定价换来了什么？ 就是这样的定价，你们有想过吗，一款游戏的开发需要多少人的团队开发多久，这个团队的人员组成是什么学历什么素质，为了开发这款游戏需要投入多少软硬件资 源？69元钱一套的《轩辕剑》，你觉得应该卖出多少能收回成本（还不论盈利），你知道实际上卖出去了多少套么？友情提示一下，这可是2006年全国单机游 戏销售最好的软件了。 ps：友情再提示一下，2006年买一台主流配置的普通电脑大约4000元，一张地铁票3元，一盒0.8中南海5元，512k 的adsl包月150元，很多人玩网游《wow》每月开销在80~1000元左右，而一款单机游戏软件，只需要69元…… 盗版是寄生虫，它们把宿主的血吸干，还可以换一个宿主，而得不到治疗的宿主，却死亡了。你还喜欢单机游戏吗？等着盗版的《星际争霸2》和《辐射3》吧，再也不会有国产游戏了，正版的和盗版的都不会有了。 我不是要给MS做广告，但是，微软在中国做得很用心，他们建立了很多研发中心，培养和雇佣了很多高水平的软件人才，投放的很多广告也养活了很多it类媒 体。他们在中国淫浸多年，对中国软件行业和盗版现状清清楚楚。中国游戏的死亡之路所有软件人和游戏爱好者都看得真真切切，微软自然也明明白白，降价永远也 降不过盗版，而且，在国人“窃书不算偷”这种扭曲的心态下，降价不会带来任何实际意义上的市场占有率的提升。 有人反对？是啊，有网友说了，100多块就可以接受，可以买正版了。且不论这种随口而说的定价是多么的缺乏成本核算的依据，但说假设真的便宜了，会不会有更多的人来使用和购买吧。 Linux可是比100块还要便宜的多，为什么不用？哦，不会用，使用成本高。可是怎么花高价买mac的人都用得好好的？听说过ubantu么？这玩意 free的，用起来和windows差不多，文件系统也能兼容。无法用IE不能用支付宝和网银……哦，好吧，这个我理解，我没办法了； 压缩软件用什么？WinRAR？30多美刀一份呢，想来大家一定也是用的盗版，可是，知不知道WinZIP是免费的呢？正版都免费了都不用，还非要去用盗 版，这叫我说什么好！WinZIP无法解压缩RAR格式的文件？好吧，谁要是给我传rar文件过来，我一般都会先恭维对方富有，然后再请他用他的 WinRAR给我压一份zip格式的发过来。你嫌麻烦？好吧，不兼容的问题确实会增加大家工作的时间成本，这个WinRAR的问题也算我勉强理解吧； 大家的电脑里大多都有办公软件吧？都是什么？MS Office！那玩意比windows还贵，想来大家更不会买正版了。可是，你知道么，OpenOffice是免费的，WPS也是免费的，而且，他们和你 的Office完全兼容。我家里的台式机安装的OpenOffice，我的笔记本安装的WPS，公司里其他同事使用的盗版Office，我在不同的电脑上 使用、编辑、共享文档，不存在任何障碍，我如果不说，没有同事知道我使用着和他们完全不一样的两款软件在和他们协同办公，共享文档和电子表格。 看完以上这些例子，你还会认为正版软件市场份额低，是因为价格太高造成的么？想用盗版的人，是不缺理由的。 有人可能会说：我电脑盲，没听说过这许多免费的软件。嘿嘿。这正是问题的所在啊，正是有大量“不明真相的群众”在不停的宣扬着盗版的好处（很遗 憾这种声音还相当主流），导致中国无数的电脑使用者在选择软件的时候不是抱着“我要选择的软件太贵没办法只好用盗版”的心态来使用盗版，而是抱着“选软件 就是要用盗版”的心态来选软件。也唯有这样理解，才能解释为什么连便宜到了不要钱的正版都竞争不过盗版的原因。 Ps：各位朋友，如果你的公司没有为你购买MS Office系列软件的话，我建议你试试免费的金山WPS，用过之后再告诉我，你是否会卸载掉盗版Office，或者你还是不愿意卸载掉盗版Office的理由。 盗版软件是贼，是强盗。它把偷来、抢来的东西廉价出售，官府一时管不周全，但这不是我们号召大家集体买脏的理由。 如果没有盗版，以中国的用户数量基础，也许我们已经有了匹敌微软的大软件公司，也许我们已经有了走向世界的优秀通用办公软件了。 —————— 番茄花园倒掉了，这很好。 其实，买脏（用盗版）的人不过是爱贪便宜罢了，不说也罢。但是要为偷盗者辩护，这是怎么也说不通的事情啊！ ———– 答盗版支持者问： 1，当年上千元的系统盘，穷人是无论如何也买不起的。 答：错，上千元的windows，买得起电脑的人，无论如何是买得起的，只不过在盗版的价格对比下，并不富裕的人们无论如何也不愿意掏钱去买正版罢了。 2，微软自己纵容盗版，现在反过来打击，太黑！ 答：微软一直在打击盗版，无论是从技术上还是经营上还是从法律上，你不知道或者你视而不见的并不代表它不存在。 3，微软忘恩负义，是盗版软件成就了微软的市场占有率！ 答：你认为奔驰公司会感谢吉利汽车为大奔前脸形象在中国汽车市场的普及做出的“贡献”么？ 向您推荐以下文章 我不用盗版软件一个月了

Carnaval of 1956 Copacabana Records Brazil

The $100 million iFund investment pool, created by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has invested in five iPhone start-ups, NYT reports in a profile piece on Matt Murphy who heads up the endeavor. Pelago, the parent of mobile location-based service Whrrl, received an investment from KPCB before the iFund was created, and then was transferred over. The next three were: iControl, a company that enables users to monitor homes while away, and Gogii and Ngmoco, ...

The top 10 languages spoken in the world Click here to see the full Map of Languages 10. French — Number of speakers: 129 million Often called the most romantic language in the world, French is spoken in tons of countries, including Belgium, Canada, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Haiti. Oh, and France too. We’re actually very lucky that French is so popular, because without it, we might have been stuck with Dutch Toast, Dutch Fries, and ...

BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- Six Americans detained by police this week could be held for 10 days, according to Chinese authorities, who appear to be intensifying their efforts to shut down any public demonstrations during the final days of the Olympic Games.

中国所有的手机都已经有push mail了。 在中国，最土的也是最有效的pushmail，就是短信。 但当人们真的开始用手机处理mail而不是仅仅的传送message的时候，我们需要掌上设备的搜索工具。 当你习惯了Gmail的邮件管理方式以后，你还能适应outlook的按照时间、文件夹和少量标记的邮件管理方式吗？ 当你习惯了使用桌面搜索工具，你还能适应一个一个文件夹的去翻查你脑海里有一点印象的3年前保存的一份文档吗？ 现在，管理手持设备上的message已经很让人恼火了，如果mail进来，数据量暴涨，现有的文件夹分组和顺序浏览的管理方式不让人疯掉才怪。 所以，push mail的普及应用，目前时机尚未到，Google的手机操作系统什么时候出来？我很期待！ 向您推荐以下文章 百度IM抢先测试，Hi Sayings:越临近购买决定，用户越倾向于使用垂直引擎 很不错的推广——搜索引擎谁是谁？ 从百度被示威看竞价排名的发展前景

Within the global mobile content industry, there's one big standout—ringback tones, which are the songs that play while someone waits for you to pick up the phone, according to a report released today by Multimedia Intelligence, a research and consulting firm. Frank Dickson, MultiMedia's Chief Research Officer: "Ringback tones are the most interesting. There's a lot of demand for them. People like the fact that they can personalize the call with a track that reflects ...

Look at it this way. Chill with the old dude a couple nights a week, donate his $10,000 to Meals on Wheels, and then write about your life-changing experience on the front page of The New York Times Magazine. Next, you parlay that little gem into best-selling memoir. The critics don't know how not to rave about such a thing. You'll get on Oprah, housewives will throw money at you. And, most importantly, you just ...

I had an idea a week or two ago and it received a fairly positive response on Twitter, so I thought I’d post it here and invite feedback. You might be familiar with NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The idea behind it is that you sign up, and during the month of November you write a 50,000-word novel. The aim, of course, is to get those who want to write a novel to just ...

Here’s a list of bullet points on which the majority of ‘common users’ go through when they decide to enter into this digital space: I have a need of a ‘website’. Everybody has one so I need one too. My website has to be 2.0. I don’t know what 2.0 means but it will make things go better. I have to contact ’someone’ who can create this site for me. I don’t know where this ...

Useful Networks, the Liberty Media-owned provider of location-based services, has acquired Calgary-based KnowledgeWhere, a developer of location-based games and advertising. Terms of the acquisition were not announced. In the announcement Useful Networks didn't offer any specifics on post-acquisition plans, except that the KnowledgeWhere services made sense as part of the company's overall portfolio of location-based products. KnowledgeWhere has taken one unspecified funding round from BDC Venture Capital. Release. Related Useful Networks Launching SNIFF: Snoop or ...

Since opening its App Store for the iPhone in July, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has raked in an average of $1 million a day in sales, a cool $30 million for the entire month it has been open. Apple chief Steve Jobs told the WSJ in an interview he'd "never seen anything like this in my career for software," and said if sales kept up with this pace, they'd stand to earn $360 million in new ...

A trio of new research reports detail the dramatic and swift rise of mobile in terms of subscription growth, mobile web usage and mobile payments for goods downloaded to mobile phones. On Pace For 5.2 Billion Mobile Subscribers By 2011 Last year there were three times as many people using mobile phones than land lines worldwide (3.3 billion and 1.1 billion respectively), according to Infonetics Research. Mobile subscriptions jumped 31 percent year-over-year while land line ...

With adaptations of a real-life G.I. Joe, Thundercats and another Transformers in the works, it's pretty obvious studios are aggressively preying on my generation's man-child psyche and our fading memories of weekday afternoon television programming. But surprisingly, this trailer for a new animated G.I. Joe is a welcome change of pace. I mean, it's still pandering to my base desire to return to an earlier, easier time in my life, when the hours between 3 ...

The latest mobile games report from Nielsen Mobile shows in startling detail how hard it is to make money in this business. Of the 141 publishers tracked, shockingly few—only 55—made money through U.S. carrier partnerships in the second quarter. Even more striking, a majority of revenues—62 percent—are made by the top five publishers, which is up from 60 percent only a year ago. The private report, released to game publishers this week, was also shared ...

Man, if Michael Cera got paid a dollar every time he played a perpetually awkward teenager, he'd be like the richest guy alive. Here's the trailer to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, in which Cera was paid to again act like an awkward teen, and probably more than a dollar. So I guess that means he's the richest guy alive. Sorry, Bill Gates and that one sultan.