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Can I resell Blizzard promotional ampm cups?
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Regional advertising campaigns are both the scourge of the collector's market and a financial boon to the lucky residents of said region targeted. The most recent ad campaign for World of Warcraft features four collector's cups from ampm stores as well as the ampm sweepstakes, promising some pretty cool prizes for those lucky few. Here's the thought that's the most fun to think about: Which of these is more ad-worthy -- someone seeing a World of Warcraft cup and being convinced to play, or the mass scramble to create a nationwide cup network for collectors and WoW fans, fueling more ad presence? It's a fun game, advertising. At some point in our lives, we were convinced that fandom and collectors could be the same consumer as the guy who bought stuff because the cup looked cool. At some point, we became complacent with advertisement as collectable, and that's fine. In fact, if anyone wants to send me a Kil'jaeden cup, let's talk.
Limited edition WoW cups coming to ampm stores
Upset over the cancellation of BlizzCon 2012 and looking to drown your sorrows in a massive cup adorned with one of your favorite Warcraft characters? Blizzard is teaming up with ampm to promote World of Warcraft cups featuring Arthas, Kil'jaedan, Illidan, and Deathwing. We don't have a release date for the cups just yet, but look for more information as the promotion gets closer to beginning. World of Warcraft is entering over seven years of operation and still going strong, enough so that regional advertising campaigns at widespread retailers are an attractive move. WoW has definitely eclipsed the video game market and is instead focusing on attracting new players because, for the most part, a lot of the home team market is dried up. By putting WoW in places where less typical gamers might encounter it, Blizzard has a great chance of attracting new people. Can we please get the dataminers on this and tell us what size cups these are, as well as the materials used to make them? I love those study plastic cups. I'm waiting patiently.
Mac 101: Checking in on CUPS
More Mac 101, tips and tricks for new Mac users. Ever wonder how your documents go from screen pixels to paper printouts? CUPS is the open source printing system that powers Mac OS X output, built for a variety of UNIX systems and now developed (or at least assimilated) by Apple. It provides print services by creating a representation of the page contents, and converting that data into formats that any number of printers understand. OS X applications don't need to know the printer specifics. All they have to provide is a page description, which they pass along to the CUPS server. The server takes over from there and sends the document data to the active printer. You can access your CUPS-based printers via a Web administration page, if the mood strikes you. It's easy; point your Web browser to http://127.0.0.1:631/printers. From there, you'll be able to check print queues, show completed print jobs, and more. You'll also be able to print a test page, pause the print queue, cancel all jobs, and set the default printer -- among other maintenance and administrative tasks. Most of the things you'd do there are also manageable via System Preferences, but it's nice to know what's underneath.
Okami and Okamiden mugs warm up Capcom online store in Japan
Starting in June, Capcom will be offering a pair of Okami-based mugs for ¥3,150 ($34). Siliconera spotted the "tea cups," which feature the canine protagonists from Okami and the upcoming DS sequel Okamiden. The vessels also change color as you pour hot liquid into them, blossoming from dark designs into the full-color scenes depicted in the image above. Now, cut up your credit card before you try to ship these internationally! [Via Siliconera]
Apple buys CUPS
Big UNIX news this morning. Apple has bought out CUPS, the common UNIX printing system. The name may not sound familiar, but it's part of every Mac OS X installation. CUPS implements a cross-platform printing system based on the Internet Printing Protocol and is, according to its web page, the defacto standard printing system for Linux. Until now, CUPS has been distributed by Easy Software Products under the GNU general public license. Although the purchase was announced today, it seems the actual deal went down this past February. In addition to acquiring the CUPS source code ownership, Apple has also hired Michael R. Sweet, its creator. CUPS will retain its GNU GPL2/LGPL2 licensing terms and Sweet intends to continue maintaining and supporting the product. FAQs about the change of ownership can be found here. As our own Mike Rose points out, the license exceptions seem to allow third party plug-in developers to keep their source code private. Developers (including Apple) can distribute derivative work and be exempt from the mandatory source code release clauses of the GNU GPL so long as the exception is limited to Mac OS X and not for use on other operating systems. Just remember: we are not lawyers, and the exception language is convoluted. Thanks, Daniel.Update: Nilay Patel from Engadget adds: Apple isn't affected by the license terms of CUPS, since they own it. A license only affects licensees, not owners. Apple could fork CUPS and close the source tomorrow and no one could do anything about it, although I'm certain the terms of the sale included a promise that Apple would keep it GPL'd for a certain period of time. The exception appears to be geared to printer manufacturers so they can write drivers and not have to open their code -- which is interesting, since the GPL already provides a mechanism for this sort of distribution, called the "mere aggregation" clause.. Disclaimer: Although Nilay is a lawyer, this information is not legal advice or analysis and should not be construed as such. Thanks Nilay.
Animal Crossing cups for you and a neighbor
The Animal Crossing merchandising explosion continues. Soon you will be able to outfit your house only with things that bear Tom Nook's smug face.The latest cash-in is this series of Animal Crossing cups. They come in pairs featuring related characters, like the set with Mable and Sable above, and another set with Tom Nook and his roaming counterpart, Crazy Redd. Each cup holds about 10.5 ounces, and each set of 2 costs $8.75 from NCSX.We like the design of these cups. The colors are nice and happy, ensuring that your Sunny Delight (or purple stuff, you rogue) is somewhat sunnier and more delightful.
